By Stephen Peter
Scorching sun, lots of speeches, then it suddenly rains confetti: Cheerful and colorful inauguration of the Jewish campus in Wilmersdorf. On the site on Westfälische Straße there is a day-care center, primary school, high school, studios and even a small cinema.
Around 40 million euros were invested, and 8,000 square meters are available for learning and playing on seven floors. The opening on Sunday – a big ceremony with many important guests.
“A historic moment for each and every one of us,” said Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal (50), chairman of the Chabad congregation and initiator of the project. “A new era for Jewish life in Berlin.” Several members of his family were murdered in the Holocaust. That’s why the priest has an unmistakable message: “Only with love, only with tolerance, only with togetherness can we shape the future.”
The Israeli Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Josef (middle), Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (4th from left) and Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal (3rd from right) cut the ribbon for the opening of the Jewish Campus together. Also present are actress Susan Sideropoulos (2nd from left) and politician Petra Pau (left, right). Photo: Getty Images
Teichtal had already explained the importance of the new campus to the BZ during a tour: “We build to stay”. On Sunday, the rabbi emphasized again: “Jewish life has grown enormously, let’s shape the future together.” He praised the Senate’s support enthusiastically. “I thank the good Lord that we have a great, fantastic, excellent, unique state government.”
Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (50, CDU) called the inauguration “a very special day for Berlin, a very special day for Germany”. The campus is a beacon and a “great vote of confidence in the openness of our city”.
View of the stairwell of the new building Photo: Monika Skolimowska/dpa
Wegner emphasized: “Almost the entire Berlin Senate came to the opening. This shows how important it is to us to make Jewish life in Berlin visible,” says Wegner. “We will never allow anti-Semitism to regain the upper hand on the streets.” It takes places like the campus for a sign against anti-Semitism. “We will fight anti-Semitism 365 days a year.”
Ron Prosor, Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, gave a speech at the inauguration Photo: Carsten Koall/dpa
According to Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor (64), the campus is further proof of the rebirth of Jewish life in Germany. “This rebirth is linked to trust in today’s Germany. This trust is a great gift to Berlin and Germany.”
The campus is named after the British Pears Foundation, which supports projects for Judaism and against anti-Semitism. The federal government, the state of Berlin and “Ein Herz für Kinder” are also donors.
Life was once so Jewish in Berlin
When tourists in the capital go in search of traces of Jewish life before 1933, most people think of the Scheunviertel. But this is only a small part of the story.
Before the Nazis seized power, the Jewish communities in Berlin numbered 160,000 members. In 1933 there were 17 synagogues, 15 kindergartens, several schools, twelve orphanages and hospitals – so the Jewish fellow citizens had a lasting impact on the cityscape.
The Kempler family’s “Krakauer Café and Konditorei” on Grenadierstraße (today Almstadtstraße), around 1925 Photo: Jewish Museum Berlin
At that time the Jews were extraordinarily well integrated. Kaiser Wilhelm II already relied on the expertise of entrepreneurs and bankers such as Carl Fürstenberg, James Simon and Emil and Walter Rathenau.
Wilhelm’s grandfather (Wilhelm I.) had agreed to the new synagogue on Oranienburger Straße – as long as it was not higher than the Hohenzollern Cathedral. The house was inaugurated in 1866 and was “an ornament of the city” (according to a newspaper at the time).
The synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse in 1929 Photo: Ullstein picture
Berliners wore shoes from Salamander (the leather dealer Rudolf Moos was behind them), shopped in the Tietz department store on Leipziger Strasse or at Wertheim on Moritzplatz. Productions by Max Reinhardt ran in the theater, books by Alfred Döblin and Lion Feuchtwanger found a large audience.
During the Weimar Republic, the Jewish middle class suffered particularly from inflation due to a lack of property. In 1930, a quarter of the Berlin parishioners had to be supported by the “Jewish welfare organization”.