Hammer, compass, Star of David? Jews in the GDR
After the horrors of the Holocaust, only a few Jews remained in the Eastern sector of Berlin. In the years that followed, many emigrated abroad or to the West.
Image gallery
Stadtspaziergang zum Volksaufstand 17. Juni 1953
However, some returned from exile after the war for political and ideological reasons and settled in East Berlin to help build the socialist state. Still others tried, as best they could, to maintain a Jewish community in the religious sense.
This tour offers insights into the phases of reconstruction, the influences and disappointments of anti-fascist ideology, and the lived reality of Judaism under an anti-religious state.
Participants will visit places where the small East Berlin Jewish community gathered between 1945 and 1990, and will also see which Jewish sites have disappeared from public view.
This tour raises many questions: To what extent was it possible to lead a Jewish life in the religious sense in the GDR? You will learn about various Jewish figures who played very different roles in the political and cultural life of the GDR, and explore the question of to what extent they were able to live out their Jewish identity within a non-religious, socialist society, or to what extent they even still saw themselves as Jews?
This tour includes a tram ride. Please bring a valid ticket!
- Meeting point: 2:00 PM in the entrance area of the New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum.
- Please allow time for the security check.
IN GERMAN
Additional information
Dates
June 2026
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