Renovation work on Berlin's oldest Jewish cemetery has been finished with the reinstallation of 20 tombstones.
Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin recited the Kaddish - the Jewish prayer of mourning - Thursday at the cemetery in downtown Berlin and presented the tombstones at their new location on the cemetery's southern wall. They are protected by a newly installed roof.
The cemetery was built in 1672 by Jews who had found refuge in Berlin after being chased from Vienna. The famous German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn was buried here in 1786.
After the cemetery's destruction during the Nazi era, gravestones were kept at a different cemetery for years.
The renovation cost 26,000 euros (about $38,000) and was paid for by the city of Berlin and the local Jewish community.