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The Rykes Synagogue in Berlin
Jewish life is reborn in this German city.
Norman Sklarewitz
Special to the Jewish News
O
nce the infamous Berlin Wall
came down in 1989, spectacular
shopping complexes, elegant new
hotels and office towers made over the face
of what had been Communist- controlled
East Berlin. At the same time, throughout
the area, the horrendous fate of Berlin's
once-thriving Jewish community of some
160,000, largest in Europe, was observed
with somber, often heart-wrenching
memorials.
Included are the moving Holocaust
Museum, the "Stumbling Stones:' the
Topography of Terror on the site of the
Gestapo and SS headquarters, Platform
17 at the Grunewald Station from which
men, women and children were loaded
like cattle into railcars to be transported
to their death. Wall murals with the names
and locations of all the infamous concen-
tration camps are in building lobbies. All
these remind visitors as well as residents
of the unspeakable atrocities commit-
ted by the Nazis against what had been a
thriving Jewish community. At the war's
end, it had essentially vanished.
In the view of many Jews living else-
where, Berlin could never — should
never — again be a home for Jews. But
the fact is, it is; and it's a lively, growing
community at that. Upon hearing that as
many as 30,000 Jews have settled in Berlin,
an elderly woman in the Fairfax District
in Los Angeles asked almost in disb-eli-ef,
36 July 26 • 2012
"Have they forgotten?"
By way of response, Rabbi Yehuda
Teichtal, chairman of the Chabad Jewish
Educational Center in Berlin by way of
Brooklyn, says flatly, 'That is an irrelevant
question. The fact is that they are here,
and they should be welcomed with love
and warmth and we should invest every
resource to enhance their Jewish aware-
ness." He adds, "It's not in our interest to
seek revenge' His Chabad Lubawitsch
Center opened in 2007 and, at a cost of
$7.8 million, was the first Jewish facility in
Berlin built entirely with private funds.
Once Germany was politically, socially
and economically again unified in 1990,
the face of the tiny surviving Jewish com-
munity began to change dramatically. First
was a wave of thousands of Jews, mainly
from Russia but from other Eastern
European countries as well, who came to
escape discrimination and were welcomed
by the German government.
They were followed by entrepreneurs
from abroad, including the U.S., who
found in Berlin's booming economy
attractive business opportunities. Then,
most recently, some 15,000, mostly young,
secular Israelis, have moved to Berlin
where the cost of living is far less than in
Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Badly damaged and desecrated syna-
gogues like the Moorish-style domed
Neue (New) Synagogue and its Centrum
Judaicum museum and venue have been
restored as much as possible. Rabbi Gesa
Ederberg, one of only two female rabbis
inategatr'--
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The JUdische Madchenschule, the former Jewish Girls' School, has been renovated
as a center for art and gastronomy.
in Berlin, conducts Shabbat services there.
Before the advent of Nazism, Berlin boast-
ed 34 synagogues. Most were closed by the
Nazis and either destroyed or badly dam-
aged in the war. But today nine, including
the impressive Rykestrasse Synagogue,
belong again to the Jewish community
As with almost every Jewish institution
in Berlin (and in other European cities,
as a matter of fact), the Neue Synagogue
is distinguished outside by no-nonsense
barriers, usually concrete or massive steel
stanchions. Uniformed German police are
also always present, often supplemented
by young armed Israeli guards in civilian
dress, authorized for such duty by agree-
ment with the German government.
Upon visiting Berlin, many Jewish
visitors, who perhaps came reluctantly,
frequently express a change in attitude.
One of these was Bernard Valier, a French-
born Israeli whose father was deported
from France and killed in Auschwitz. On a
visit to Berlin a few years back he said, "I
sensed a feeling of genuine remorse on the
part of the German government. Unlike
the situation in some other countries in
Europe, I felt in marking the Holocaust
with the many memorials throughout
Berlin that the authorities actually meant
it:'
Jewish Life in Modern Berlin
Awaiting Berlin visitors these days are
social, gastronomic and artistic venues
that are part of today's Jewish life there.