The Banking District at Gendarmenmarkt

Several members of the Gutmann family were murdered in the Holocaust.

This single building illustrates the theme of the city tour ‘Around Behrenstraße: Jewish Banking Houses in Berlin’: how closely the history of Berlin’s financial centre was linked to Jewish entrepreneurs – and how thoroughly that connection was destroyed from 1933 onwards.

From the 18th century onwards, Berlin developed into a centre for prominent Jewish banking houses. A banking district sprang up around Jägerstraße, where families such as the Mendelssohns, Bleichröders, Arnholds, Magnuses and Gutmanns were active; the Cologne-based banking house Sal. Oppenheim is also part of this history. Jewish bankers played a key role in the development of the Berlin Stock Exchange. They financed industrial expansion, supported new enterprises and helped to make Berlin an international financial centre.

A figure from 1933 illustrates the extent of their influence: of the 215 private banks in Berlin at that time, over 70 per cent were owned or managed by Jews. With the Nazis’ rise to power, their systematic exclusion, expropriation and dismantling began. By 1935, a quarter of these banks had been ‘Aryanised’ or liquidated; by the end of 1938, all of them had been.

The tour begins at Schlossplatz and ends on Jägerstraße. Covering a distance of around two to two and a half kilometres, it links historical sites with the life stories of Jewish entrepreneurs and the economic development of Berlin.

The route is free of stairs or other obstacles.

Behrenstraße and Jägerstraße are located in what is now the Mitte district. The Mitte Museum, the district’s museum, tells this story where it actually took place – at locations that people pass by every day and whose past is now barely visible.

• Meeting point: Schlossplatz 1, 10178 Berlin
• End point: Jägerstraße
• Participation is free of charge and no booking is required.