Alexander House

An international bestseller was written about this house by Thomas Harding: The House by the Lake. Thanks to this book, the modest cottage was saved from the wrecking ball. The house by the lake, a book that became a worldwide success in 2015.

Doctor Alfred Alexander, a Jewish physician in Berlin, was allowed to build a weekend home on this elongated strip that runs down to the lake. The Alexanders had to leave their idyll in the 1930s in a hurry due to the persecution of the Jews and settled in Great Britain. In Groß Glienicke, a new occupant, a music publisher, took advantage of the Aryanization of Jewish property by the Nazis to 'buy' the estate. After the war, with the division of Berlin by the Allies, the house was located in the Soviet zone; the 'owner' lived in West Berlin and was in trouble for collaborating with the Nazi regime. In communist East Germany, the holiday home was nationalized and even two families were accommodated there.

On August 13, 1961, the residents discovered that the Wall ran through their garden and cut off their access to the lake. The Stasi, the Cold War, the fall of the Wall, squatters from former Yugoslavia, partying and drinking youth, neo-Nazis around a campfire, and simply the decay from the elements did their work – in the end, only a ruin remained. But fortunately, it has now been saved and you can visit it.

Mediahuis België