Weißensee Jewish Cemetery: Europe's Largest, Visit and Opening Hours

Updated on October 5, 2026

The Weißensee Jewish Cemetery (Jüdischer Friedhof Weißensee), at Herbert-Baum-Straße 45 in north-east Berlin, is the largest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe: about 42 hectares and more than 115,000 graves, opened in 1880 and still in use. Its dense vegetation and its nineteenth- and early twentieth-century monuments tell the story of the capital's Jewish middle class, which Nazism destroyed. Entry is free (1 € per person for groups and guided tours, according to visitBerlin). The cemetery is open from Sunday to Friday and closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays; hours are shorter on Fridays and in winter. Allow an hour and a half for a first visit; the site is large and the paths are uneven.

Highlights

The entrance on Herbert-Baum-Straße

The entrance is at the end of Herbert-Baum-Straße, a 450-metre street that starts at Berliner Allee. Wrought-iron gates and yellow-brick pavilions open onto the main avenue. Men must cover their heads: kippahs are lent at the entrance.

The ceremony hall

The brick building with its arcaded gallery, columns, geometric floor patterns and exposed roof timbers serves as the ceremony hall.

The sections and paths

The graves are divided into 120 sections (Abteilungen and Felder), marked by small enamel signs. Many headstones, overgrown with ivy and trees, have been left to the vegetation: the atmosphere is that of a wild park.

The famous graves

The painter Lesser Ury, the composer Louis Lewandowski, the department-store founder Oscar Tietz and the publishers Samuel Fischer and Rudolf Mosse rest here. A plaque commemorates Herbert Baum and his group of anti-fascist resistance fighters.

The memorials

A 1992 monument honours the six million European Jews murdered between 1933 and 1945. The 1914 field of honour commemorates Jewish soldiers of the First World War (more than 500 are buried here), and section 7 holds the urns of 283 victims of the concentration camps. More than 1,650 graves are those of people who took their own lives under Nazi rule.

Practical info

Tips

Dogs are not allowed, children must be accompanied, and the cemetery remains a place of quiet reflection: do not walk on the graves and do not leave litter (information checked in October 2026 on visitBerlin and the Pankow district websites). A digital guide in English and German, reached by QR code, tells the story of the place and of a few graves. To put the cemetery in the history of the community, combine it with the Jewish Museum and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or the New Synagogue; our guide to Jewish Berlin offers a full route.

How to get there

Herbert-Baum-Straße 45, 13088 Berlin (Weißensee). Tram M4, Albertinenstraße stop, then a few minutes on foot. More information in our guide to public transport in Berlin.