Displaced Persons in Berlin - Befreite Zwangsarbeiter:innen und jüdische Überlebende

In 1945, the Soviet army found hundreds of thousands of forced laborers in Berlin. The repatriation of these displaced persons became a mammoth task for the Allies. 80 years ago, in the spring and summer of 1945, Berlin became a transit point: In addition to the forced laborers liberated here, those liberated elsewhere also streamed into the city. The Allies set up makeshift collection camps and tried to bring people back to their home countries as quickly as possible. From late summer 1945, especially in the years that followed, more and more Jewish post-war refugees from Eastern Europe came to Berlin in order to emigrate from here to the British mandate of Palestine or overseas.

Welcome: Dr. Christine Glauning
Head of the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center

Soviet DPs: Dr. Oxana Kosenko
Ulm University

Jewish DPs: Dr. Angelika Königseder
Technical University of Berlin

Moderation: Dr. Markus Nesselrodt
European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Accompanying the exhibition “Forgotten Liberation. Forced Laborers in Berlin 1945”. A curator's tour will take place at 6 p.m.

The sound installation “Liberation” by Marc Sinan can also be heard on the site.

Photo: Provisional Soviet Army reception camp for liberated forced laborers, Berlin-Biesdorf © Wolfgang Schneider Collection