Sommerhaus Alexander

Sommerhaus Alexander stands beside the Groß Glienicker See in Potsdam as a single-storey wooden house built in 1927. Its 30-by-300-metre leased plot held a weekend and summer retreat for Dr Alfred Alexander’s family. Albert Einstein, Max Reinhardt, and Lotte Jacobi visited during its early years.

In 1936, the Alexander family emigrated to the United Kingdom as the Nazi regime rose. Authorities later confiscated the property over tax debts, and music publisher Will Meisel took it over. After the Second World War, the house stood in the Soviet Occupation Zone beside the British sector of Berlin. From 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall separated the property from the lake. In 2003, communal ownership ended after the vacant building had suffered vandalism and decay. The Alexander-Haus association formed in 2013, and Brandenburg added the building to its monument list in 2014.

Donations and public funding restored the house for exhibitions and workshops. The original nine rooms included a living room with a fireplace decorated with Dutch tiles. Educational programmes and interfaith dialogue now fill the rooms, while a planned seminar wing will serve the University of Potsdam and other academic organisations.