The Cemeteries Outside Halle Gate (Main Entrance: Mehringdamm 21) A History The foundation date of the cemeteries outside Halle gate is uncertain. In the books you find mention of a donation by the king Friedrich Wilhelm I, who gave the plot of land to the parishes of Friedrichstadt through the city council. There are some indications of an earlier beginning of burials at this place, though. At the beginning of the 18th century the churchyards in the Friedrichstadt were still used by the parish of the Jerusalem and Neue (new) church as burial grounds. The following enormous expansion of inhabited areas, especially the foundation of the southern Friedrichstadt and the ensuing rapid growth in population led to unbearable conditions on these grounds within the city. In the meantime two more parishes had been established in the Friedrichstadt: religious fugitives from Bohemia, who came to Berlin since 1732, consecrated their Bethlehem church in 1737; two years later the Dreifaltigkeit (Trinity) church was opened. The new burial grounds outside Halle gate - the biggest section of the area belonged to the Jerusalem and Neue church, smaller sections to the Bethlehem and Dreifaltigkeit churches - were at first rejected by the population for their location and high water-table and considered as cemeteries for the poor. Even after the first expansion in 1755 - the Bohemian parish had already ceded some of their area to the Herrnhuters in 1746 - the cemeteries due to the scarce burials resembled fallow fields more than a planned and well-kept complex. This gradually took a turn for the better after the whole area was enclosed by a limestone wall with an elaborate gate. The laying-out of paths and avenues, the planting of trees and especially the change in burial customs that led to the erection of gravestones and monuments changed the overall appearance. At the end of the 18th century a further expansion of the area became necessary, after Friedrich Wilhelm II had put a ban on all burials in churches and inhabited areas in 1794. The parishes of Jerusalem and Neue church and Dreifaltigkeit church were given neighboring areas to the south in 1796 and 1798, which were enclosed separately with walls that were used for the erection of larger family graves. On both new cemeteries mortuaries were built, as had been done on the first cemetery of Jerusalem and Neue church. The parishes tried to run these new cemeteries in a more structured way and to turn them into a source of income. During the 19th century all parts of the cemeteries were repeatedly reused for new burials, some parts even put to other uses. Family graves now were situated on the inner parts, too; a system for the use and duration of graves as well as a scale of fees was devised and put to practice. A third cemetery of the Jerusalem and Neue church was opened on a trapezoidal plot of land to the west of the older cemeteries, reaching as far as the Mehringdamm of today. Between 1820 and 1837 this became the main burial ground outside the Halle gate. In the middle of the 19th century it was already filled with rows of graves. The owners of family graves were committed to build the enclosing walls together with their monuments. When the last family plot on the walls was sold , family graves were built on the inner parts as well. A barred gate with massive posts next to the "Building for Corpses an the Rescue of the Apparently Dead", (today a chapel) formed the entrance to Belle-Alliance Street (Mehringdamm). The expansion of the Bohemian cemetery in a corner between the original Bohemian and the third cemetery of the Jerusalem and Neue church became the last enlargement of the area. At the end of the 19th century the enormous growth of Berlin caught up with the cemeteries. The surrounding land became a built-up, densely populated living quarter; the existing mortuaries were turned into chapels in 1880 and 1889. Various attempts at town-planning involving the cemeteries in the first half of the 20th century came to nothing, but the heavy damages of the Second World War, the erection of the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (America Memorial Library; 1952-54) on Blücher Square and the building of the Blücher Street on the northern parts of the cemetery area at the beginning of the seventies took their toll. The north wall complete with the gate, memorials and family graves was demolished. The addition of a smaller area was to the north of the third cemetery of the Jerusalem and Neue church as a compensation led to the demolition of the north wall there. The cemetery of the Herrnhuter was almost completely lost in the process. Only the gate and a few graves, placed randomly in front of the new concrete wall, are left as a reminder of the former cemetery. (Peter Marock) Contact: gbbb@gmx.de © GBBB e. V. 1994 - 2006