While searching for images of Fanny Hensel's music, I came across this interesing photo of the family burial plot. I couldn't help but notice that Fanny's headstone is not a cross (and it looks like it even has a Mogen David on it), which makes me wonder if she, being already 13 at the time of the family conversion, might have not joined her male siblings. After all, according to the family "rules" she would not benefit from conversion because she was a woman and was forbidden to work for a living.
One source tells me that the burial plot is in the cemetery of the New Jerusalem Church in Berlin, and another says its in the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof (Trinity Cemetery) in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Does anyone know which location is correct? Is one a new name for the other?
By the way, here are some examples of what Fanny Mendelssohn's manuscripts look like. The illustrations are by her husband Wilhelm Hensel.
This one is the first page "January" from Das Jahr.
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Hi, I am an American living in Berlin. I live right around the corner from the Mendelssohn graves. They are in the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof. This name means Trinity Cemetary in English. I once walked around this old cemetary for hours looking for his grave. Just as I was about to give up, I heard a little birdie singing his heart out nearby. I wondered what the commotion was all about, so following the beautiful song of the little bird, I came upon the grave I was looking for. This joyous little songster, was sitting on the headstone of Felix Mendelssohn Barthody. This will always be a special memory of mine, experienced while searching for the resting place of one of my favorite composers.
Lynne Palmer Streul - Berlin
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