Visiting the Jewish Cemetery in Weißensee

This quiet northeast corner of Berlin holds Europe's largest Jewish burial ground

The main entrance to the Jewish Cemetery Weißensee, officially, Jüdischer Friedhof Weißensee. Photo Credit: Cathi Harris.

An elaborate dome of polished red granite rises imposingly out of the quiet leafy landscape near the center of the Jüdischer Friedhof Berlin-Weißensee.

With a form based on the design of ancient Roman Jewish temples, it features a pyramid-shaped spire with an openwork Star of David. 

Built between 1903 and 1904 for the wife of Berlin merchant Sigmund Aschrott, it is the largest mausoleum in the cemetery. 

But it is by no means alone in its grandeur.

Nearby, other massive granite and marble monuments mark the resting places of prominent Berliners of the late 19th and early 20th century - the mausoleum for Adolf Jadorf, the founder of the Kaufhaus des Westens, and his family; the wine merchant, Berthold Kempinski, rests underneath an intricately carved limestone wall, while newspaper publisher Rudolf Mosse and family are also remembered with a marble and red granite mauso…