Friedhof Heerstraße
Encyclopedia
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in the 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf.-Overview:Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the western centre of the City of Berlin...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, beneath the Olympiastadion
Olympic Stadium (Berlin)
The Olympiastadion is a sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. There have been two stadiums on the site: the present facility, and one that is called the Deutsches Stadion which was built for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics. Both were designed by members of the same family, the first by Otto March...
. It covers an area of 149,650 square meters.
The cemetery was originally named and planned for the local residents of Villenkolonie Heerstraße. It was laid out between 1921-24 around the Sausuhlensee (Wild boar's lake). Created by landscape architect Erwin Barth as a forest cemetery, the chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was designed by Erich Blunck.
Today's cemetery does not reflect its original design. In 1935/36 the original plans for extending the cemetery were dropped and the land was appropriated for landscaping related to the 1936 Summer Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
; the fact that the non-denominational cemetery contained a number of Jewish graves bolstered the Nazis' need to keep the cemetery out of sight. Another problem for the Olympic organizers was that the cemetery chapel could be seen from the sports fields; accordingly the roof was lowered and other changes made to its design.
In 1948 the war-damaged chapel was rebuilt following the 1936 design alterations.
From the beginning this cemetery was open to all: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even suicides. Its idyllic location on the lake attracted many prominent people whose graves are located there.
Graves of prominent people
- = EhrengrabEhrengrabAn Ehrengrab is a distinction granted by certain German, Swiss and Austrian cities to one of their citizens for extraordinary services or achievements in their lifetime. If there are no descendants or institutions to care for the gravesite, the communities or cities will take responsibility for...
des Landes Berlin (Honoured Grave: the city of Berlin pays all fees)
- Alfred AbelAlfred AbelAlfred Abel was a German film actor, director, and producer. He appeared in over 140 silent and sound films between 1913 and 1938...
(1879–1937), actor (MetropolisMetropolis (film)Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
) and director - Conrad AnsorgeConrad AnsorgeConrad Eduard Reinhold Ansorge was a German pianist, teacher and composer. He was born in Buchwald, Silesia, studied at the Leipzig Conservatory between 1880 and 1882, and under Franz Liszt in Weimar in 1885 and 1886. He toured Europe and the United States...
, composer and pianist - Hermann Bamberg* (1846-1928), Berlin honourary citizen
- Ottomar Batzel, local politician
- Marcus Behmer* (1879-1958), drawer
- Arnold BerlinerArnold BerlinerArnold Berliner, German Physicist, , graduated in Physics at the University of Breslau in 1886. He worked in the Research and Development Laboratories of the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft .He was good friend of immunologist Paul Ehrlich, and chemist Richard Willstätter...
* (1862-1942), physicist - Leo BlechLeo BlechLeo Blech was a German opera composer and conductor who is perhaps most famous for his work at the Königliches Schauspielhaus Leo Blech (21 April 1871 – 25 August 1958) was a German opera composer and conductor who is perhaps most famous for his work at the Königliches Schauspielhaus Leo...
*, composer and conductor - Werner Bloch*, Stadtältester, city-oldest
- Michael BohnenMichael BohnenFranz Michael Bohnen was a German bass baritone opera singer and actor.-Life:Michael Bohnen was born in Cologne. He trained in opera singing at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and with a private tutor, making his debut in 1910 at the Stadttheater Düsseldorf. In 1912 he appeared at the Hoftheater...
, chamber singer - Karl Bonhoeffer*, physician, mental specialist
- Alfred Braun*, broadcast pioneer
- Ferdinand BrucknerFerdinand BrucknerFerdinand Bruckner was an Austrian-German writer and theater manager.-Life:...
*, writer - Erich BuchholzErich BuchholzErich Buchholz was a German artist in painting and printmaking. He was a central figure in the development of non-objective or concrete art in Berlin between 1918 and 1924. He interrupted his artistic activity in 1925, first because of economic hardship and, from 1933, as he was forbidden to paint...
* (1891-1972), painter, drawer - Paul CassirerPaul CassirerPaul Cassirer was a German art dealer and editor who played a significant role in the promotion of the work of artists of the Berlin Secession and of French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, in particular that of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.- Starting out :Paul Cassirer started out as...
* (1871-1925), art dealer - Christian Chruxin (1937-2006), designer
- Theodor DäublerTheodor DäublerTheodor Däubler was a poet and cultural critic in the German language. He was born in Trieste, then part of Austro-Hungary and has been described as "Trieste's most important German-speaking writer"....
* (1876-1934), poet - Alexander Dehms* (1904-1979), Stadtältester
- Frida Deman-Leider*, chamber singer
- Günter von Drenkmann*, president of the Court of Appeal, murdered
- Bill DrewsBill DrewsWilhelm Arnold Drews , known as Bill Drews, was a German lawyer and administrator. Bill Drews was the creator of the Prussian 1931 police administrative law, which became the model for all German police regulations....
* (1870-1938), Prussian Minister of the Interior - Werner Düttmann, architect and sculptor
- Tilla DurieuxTilla DurieuxTilla Durieux was a renowned Austrian actress of the first decades of the 20th century.Born Ottilie Godefroy, she trained in Vienna, her native town and got her first engagement in Breslau...
*, actress - Fritz Dylong*, Stadtältester
- Edyth Edwards* (1899-1956), actress
- Leonore Ehn* (1888-1978), actress
- Alexander EngelAlexander EngelAlexander Engel was a German film actor. He appeared in 73 films between 1932 and 1968.He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Saarbrücken, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Heart of Stone...
(1902-1968), actor - Erich Fiedler (1901 -1981), actor
- Max Jakob FriedländerMax Jakob FriedländerMax Jakob Friedländer was a German art expert and art historian . He attained the rank and title of "Geheimrat" under the German Empire....
(1867-1958), art historian - Curt GoetzCurt GoetzCurt Goetz , born Kurt Walter Götz, was a Swiss-German writer, actor and film director. Curt Goetz was regarded as one of the most brilliant comedy writers of his time in the German-speaking world. Together with his wife Valérie von Martens he acted in his own plays and also filmed them...
*, actor and writer, with Valérie von MartensValerie von MartensValérie von Martens , born Valérie Pajér Edle von Mayersperg, was a German-Austrian actress.Valérie von Martens was born in Lienz, Tirol, daughter of the Austrian admiral Rudolf Pajér Edler von Mayersperg. She was an actress in Vienna when she had a relationship with the cabaret artist Karl... - George GroszGeorge GroszGeorg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...
*, painter and drawer - Wolfgang Gruner, Stachelschwein
- Käthe HaackKäthe HaackKäthe Haack was a German actress. She appeared in over 200 films between 1915 and 1980.She was born Käte Lisbeth Minna Sophie Isolde Haack in Berlin, Germany and was previously married to actor Heinrich Schroth, with whom she had a daughter, actress Hannelore Schroth in 1922.-Selected...
, actress, with her daughter Hannelore SchrothHannelore SchrothHannelore Schroth was German film, stage and television actress whose career spanned over five decades.-Career:...
, actress - Thea von HarbouThea von HarbouThea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
*, writer, also film scripts - Maximilian HardenMaximilian HardenMaximilian Harden was an influential German journalist and editor.- Biography :...
*, journalist and writer - Alfred Helberger* (1871-1946), painter
- Hilde HildebrandHilde HildebrandHilde Hildebrand was a German actress born in Hanover, Germany on 10 September 1897. She died at the age of 78 in Grunewald, Berlin, on 28 April 1976.-Filmography:...
(1897-1976), actress - Walter Höllerer (1922-2003), literature scientist
- Karl Hofmann (1870-1940), chemist
- Arno HolzArno HolzArno Holz was a German naturalist poet and dramatist. He is best known for his poetry collection Phantasus .-Life and Works:...
*, writer - Hermann Jansen*, architect
- Hans-Werner Kock (1930-2003), Journalist, local TV moderator
- Georg KolbeGeorg KolbeGeorg Kolbe was the leading German figure sculptor of his generation, in a vigorous, modern, simplified classical style similar to Aristide Maillol of France.Kolbe was born in Waldheim ....
*, sculptor - Willi Kollo, tenor
- Victor de Kowa*, actor , with his Japanese wife Michiko de Kowa-Tanaka, actress, singer
- August Kraus* (1868-1934), sculptor and painter
- Eduard KünnekeEduard KünnekeEduard Künneke was a German composer of operettas, operas and theatre music. He was born in Emmerich. His daughter was the actress and singer Evelyn Künneke....
, composer, with his daughter Evelyn Künneke, singer - Helene LangeHelene LangeHelene Lange was a pedagogue and feminist, and a symbol of the Women's Movement in Germany.-Education and pedagogy:...
*, early women's lib fighter - Horst H. Lange, jazz researcher
- Leopold Langstein* (1876-1933), child physician
- Melvin J. LaskyMelvin J. LaskyMelvin Jonah Lasky was an American journalist, intellectual, and member of the anti-Communist left. He was the older brother of the influential entertainment lawyer Floria Lasky and Joyce Lasky Reed, the President and founder of the Faberge Arts Foundation and former Director of European Affairs...
, American, writer, editor of a famous periodicals :de:Der Monat and EncounterEncounter (magazine)Encounter was a literary magazine, founded in 1953 by poet Stephen Spender and early neoconservative author Irving Kristol. The magazine ceased publication in 1991...
, - Karl Heinz Martin*, director of the Hebbel-Theater
- Hermann MinkowskiHermann MinkowskiHermann Minkowski was a German mathematician of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who created and developed the geometry of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity.- Life and work :Hermann Minkowski was born...
* (1864-1909), mathematician and physicist, with Oskar MinkowskiOskar MinkowskiOskar Minkowski He held a professor at at the University of Breslau and is most famous for his research on diabetes...
* (1858-1931), internalist - Hans Joachim MoserHans Joachim MoserTranslated from German WikipediaHans Joachim Moser was a German musicologist, composer and singer....
(1889-1967), music scientist - :de:Hermann Müller (Leichtathlet) (1885 -1947), marathoner, walker, 2 world records, some medals, f.e. in Athens 1906
- Albert Panschow*, Stadtältester
- Josef Pelz von Felinau, writer
- Werner PetersWerner PetersWerner Peters was a German film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1947 and 1971.Peters was born in Werlitzsch, Kreis Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, and died of a heart attack on a promotion tour for his latest film in Wiesbaden, Germany.His film career started with the lead in Wolfgang...
(1918-1971), actor, (Der Untertan) and film producer - Günter RexrodtGünter RexrodtGünter Rexrodt was a German politician. He lived in Berlin.-Education and work:After the Abitur in 1960 in Arnstadt, Thuringia and an extra year in West Berlin, he graduated with a Diplom in business studies from the Free University Berlin where he also received his doctorate in 1971...
(1941-2004), politician (FDP) - Joachim RingelnatzJoachim RingelnatzJoachim Ringelnatz is the pen name of the German author and painter Hans Bötticher. His pen name Ringelnatz is usually explained as a dialect expression for an animal, possibly a variant of Ringelnatter, German for Grass Snake...
*, writer , poet - Ulrich RoskiUlrich RoskiUlrich Roski was a German singer-songwriter who achieved his greatest successes in the 1970s. His songs describe the little quirks hidden in everyone's everyday life, mixing laconic humour with linguistic skill...
(1944-2003), Liedermacher - Oscar Sabo (1881-1969), actors, with Oscar Sabo jun. (1922-1958)
- Oskar SalaOskar SalaOskar Sala was a 20th century German physicist, composer and a pioneer of electronic music born in Greiz. He played an instrument called the Trautonium, a predecessor to the synthesizer.-Studies:...
(1910-2002), composer - Willy Schaeffers, Kabarettist (honour grave in 2001 denied)
- Edith Schollwer (1904-2002), actress and according to gravestone the last Insulanerin
- August Scholtis*, writer
- Johann Heinrich SchultzJohann Heinrich SchultzJohann Heinrich Schulze or Schultz was a German professor and polymath from Colbitz in the Duchy of Magdeburg.-History:...
(1894-1970), physician, inventor of the autogenous training - Carl SchuhmannCarl SchuhmannCarl Schuhmann was a German athlete, who was born in Münster and won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming the most successful athlete at the inaugural Olympics of the modern era...
* (1869-1946), sportsman, many medals - Leonard SteckelLeonard SteckelLeonard Steckel was a German actor and director of stage and screen. He began his career as a stage actor, and spent the duration of World War II in exile in Zürich, where he had gone to work at the Schauspielhaus...
* (1901-1971), actor and theatre director - Georg Süßenguth, architect
- Katharina Szelinski-SingerKatharina Szelinski-SingerKatharina Szelinski-Singer, born as Katharina Singer was a German sculptress. She has lived in Berlin since 1945....
(1918-2010), sculptress - Jakob TiedtkeJakob TiedtkeJakob Tiedtke was a German film actor. He appeared in 194 films between 1914 and 1955.-Selected filmography:* The Doll * Sumurun * Kohlhiesels Töchter * The Expulsion...
(1875-1960), actor - Family grave of Franz Ullstein, with nude pair by Josef ThorakJosef ThorakJosef Thorak was an Austrian-German sculptor.In 1922 Thorak's reputation increased when he created Der sterbende Krieger, a statue in memory to the dead of World War I of Stolpmünde.In 1933 and in following years, Thorak joined Arno Breker as one of the two "official sculptors" of the Third Reich...
- Kurt WegnerKurt WegnerKurt Wegner was a German artist born in Köln, Germany. He moved to Sweden in 1938, and died in Järna.-External links:*...
* (1898-1964), local politician - Paul WegenerPaul WegenerPaul Wegener was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.-Stage and early film career:...
*, famous actor - Grethe WeiserGrethe WeiserGrethe Weiser was a German actress.- Biography :Born in Hanover, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufacturer in 1920. Her only child, a son, was born in 1922...
*, actress, buried as Grethe Weiser-Schwerin - Dorothea WieckDorothea WieckDorothea Wieck was a German theatre and film actress.- Career :Wieck made her debut in 1926 and appeared in several silent films...
, actress, best known as (Mädchen in Uniform) - Agnes WindeckAgnes WindeckAgnes Windeck was a German theatre and film actress. She appeared in 55 films between 1939 and 1973.She was born in Hamburg and started her career at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus. She later worked as a teacher at the drama school of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin...
(1888-1975), actress - Jürgen Wohlrabe (1936-1995), politician, film lender
- Augusta von Zitzewitz, painter