Those coming to Berlin are always looking to find ways to explore the capital’s history. So why not extend that beyond the buildings to the people? The former residents of Berlin are as interesting as the place itself – leading to a new way of visiting the city, also known as “necrotourism”.
It’s akin to visiting the legendary Pere LaChaise Cemetary in Paris – only in Berlin, resting places are dotted about the city. Near to Miniloft on Chauseestraße, you’ll find the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, where left leaning guests have been laid to rest. Among the stones, you’ll find the philosopher Friedrich Hegel, Henrich Mann, August Stüler (the original architect of the Neues Museum) and the playwright Bertolt Brecht.
Over in the west, in Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof Berlin, you’ll find the Brother’s Grimm, who lived out their final years in Berlin composing the first German dictionary – only managing to get as far as the letter F. In Weissensee, you’ll find the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe – a sprawling forty acres filled with 115,000 gravestones – including the painter Lesser Ury, the legendary publisher Samuel Fischer and the writer Micha Josef Bin Gorion.
And in the south, you will find the Friedhof Forst Grunewald– a cemetery where Berlin’s more troubled souls reside. Known as a Schandacken – or “cemetery of shame”, the main residents are those who ended their own lives, particularly in the 19th century, when there was a trend for throwing yourself into the Havel River. It also happens to the be the resting place for Nico, whose ashes were scattered here and who still receives bottles of wine from long-time admirers.
