Shalom, Berlin! is a comprehensive 391-page travel guide for the Jewish traveler visiting those places that are linked to Berlin's historical Jewish origins and its fall and rise of its Jewish population from the ashes of the Holocaust. In 12 chapters, historical information is provided for 140 sites that cover 10 of 12 Berlin's Bezirke, or municipal districts. These sites cover a wide spectrum of current and destroyed synagogues, memorials, monuments, cemeteries, museums, former orphanages, old age homes, hospitals, deportation sites, and satellite camps run by the Nazis. Three appendices include a historical chronology of Berlin and its Jews; a summary of sites arranged by category; and layout plans for Berlin's five Jewish cemeteries.
Historical information with pictures is provided for each venue. A "Visitor's Checklist" includes the street address, telephone number, e-mail contact address, web site, hours of operation, days/holidays closed, and nearby public transportation stops for metro/subways, buses, and trams. Not found in other guidebooks on Jewish Berlin, there is a mini-street map and icons for each site that indicates wheelchair/handicap accessibility, allows cellphone use, permits photography/video recording, charges an admission fee, has multi-language audio-guides, a library, a cafeteria/food court, and a gift/souvenir shop.
American-born Howard M. Berlin, is an award-winning author of more than 30 books on many areas. He also has received awards for his travel columns and photographs. As an experienced world-wide traveler, he has visited over 70 countries and frequently visits Berlin, almost considering it as a second home.
