Begin this half-day walking tour with a meet-and-greet with an expert local guide in East Berlin at the Hackescher Markt train station. Then set out to explore the city's Jewish heritage, from the days of its first 17th-century immigrants, through the horror of the Holocaust, to the present day.  Along the way, learn about some of Berlin’s past Jewish residents who changed the world as we know it, like Albert Einstein and philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.  Visit the site of the Old Synagogue, which was destroyed in World War II, and the “Block of Women” memorial to the women’s uprising of 1943, a peaceful attempt to save their Jewish husbands and fathers from deportation by the SS and the Gestapo. Also, see the heritage site of Hackesche Höfe; the Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt, a 1940s-era factory where workshop owner Otto Weidt protected his blind and deaf Jewish workers from persecution during the Holocaust; and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Finally, visit the 19th-century New Synagogue, one of Berlin’s most significant Jewish landmarks. It was the main synagogue of the Berlin Jewish community and an important architectural monument of late 19th-century Berlin. Today, it is home to the Centrum Judaicum, which traces the history of the building and the life associated with it. Feel free to enter the synagogue (own expense) as the tour concludes.