Since 1672 the oldest Jewish cemetery in Berlin had been at Grosse Hamburger Strasse 26. A Jewish retirement home was established nearby in 1828. At the end of 1941 the Nazis established an assembly camp at the site of the retirement home and the former Jewish school, and in the process destroyed the cemetery. The building of the former retirement home was destroyed in 1943, and the school building was used as an infirmary during the last months of the war. The camp at Grosse Hamburger Strasse became the central assembly point in Berlin from which Jews were deported.