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Street renaming in Kreuzberg: Regina Jonas receives honor!
In Berlin-Kreuzberg, Kohlfurter Straße is named after the first female rabbi, Regina Jonas. Official rename in December 2025.
Street renaming in Kreuzberg: Regina Jonas receives honor!
In Berlin-Kreuzberg, a street will soon be named after the historical figure Regina Jonas, the first female rabbi in the world to be murdered during National Socialism. This renaming of Kohlfurter Straße was decided after the district council passed the corresponding resolution in December 2023 and the district office confirmed it at the end of May. An official renaming ceremony was originally planned for September 19, 2025, but was canceled due to various contradictions. As rbb24 reports, the renaming is now in preparation again, and the deadline for filing a lawsuit has already expired without any lawsuits being received.
Regina Jonas, born on August 3, 1902 in Berlin, has earned a place in history through her unwavering faith and commitment. She grew up in a strictly religious home, but she did not give up her pursuit of becoming a rabbi, even in the difficult times of the 1930s. After graduating from high school in 1923 and enrolling at the University for the Study of Judaism in Berlin, Jonas wrote her final thesis with the provocative title “Can women hold the rabbinical office?” and was ordained by Rabbi Max Dienemann in 1935. Despite the resistance of the time, she actively participated in the Jewish community in Berlin, where she worked as a religious teacher and gave sermons, including in several synagogues.
A painful legacy
The now renamed Kohlfurter Straße bears the name of a place that was called Britzer Straße for decades before it was changed in 1949 after the Silesian village of Kohlfurt. Regina Jonas' life was marked by deep personal loss and tireless devotion. In November 1942 she was deported with her mother to the Theresienstadt concentration camp before she was later sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was murdered on October 12, 1944. Despite the dangers, she remained in Germany and gave lectures, visited communities without rabbis and was a courageous voice for those around her.
Their legacy is honored today through various initiatives and forms of commemoration. For example, in 2001 a memorial plaque was placed in her honor at Krausnickstrasse 6 in Berlin-Mitte. Furthermore, the Regina Jonas Seminar for liberal rabbinical training opened in 2024 to remind future generations of their vision of equality in Judaism. Deutschlandfunk emphasizes that Regina Jonas' life and work continue to inspire and that her story has been rediscovered since the 1990s.
A road for the future
New street signs are already being prepared for residents of the new Regina Jonas Street, while the old signs will remain temporary. The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district office is planning to inaugurate the street in December 2025. This name change is not only a sign of remembrance of Regina Jonas, but also a step towards a modern, respectful culture of remembrance in Berlin.