The Idea

In a seminar on the problems of interrelations between Jews, Germans and Allies in occupied Germany, which Fr. Prof. Dr. Grossmann has given as part of the Leo Baeck Summer University in Jewish Studies, we have discussed different aspects of Jewish life in the DP camps.

As we will explain later on (in chapter 3 dedicated to the historical background), the American military administration created in its occupation zones special camps only for Jews. One of the consequences of this well meant discrimination was that the Jewish inhabitans of these camps, in contrast to other groups of displaced persons, remained in Germany for a relatively very long time after the end of World War II (while most other displaced persons returned to their home countries within the first six months after the end of the war, Jewish DP camps continued to exist in Germany for several years).

One of these all-Jewish DP camps was located in the American zone of occupied Berlin, in its south-eastern corner, in a small neighbourhood called Düppel. This neighbourhood gave the camp its official name: "Düppel Center". Since Düppel is relatively unknown, but at the same time adjucent to the fairly known neighbourhood of Schlachtensee (located next to lake Schlachtensee), this DP camp also became known as "Schlachtensee".

In the lively discussions held in class, it became apparent to us that this DP camp constituted a meaningful part of Jewish Berlin. Berlin in the immediate post-war time was quite empty of Jews; indeed, Jews were present in post-war Berlin as soldiers in the occupation forces; furthermore, a handful of Jews could survive the war in Berlin, some managed to come back from the National-Socialist camps and others returned from overseas, where they have spent the war in relative safety. But they were all together very few in number. Hence, the inhabitants of Düppel Center constituted at that time the biggest and most consolidated group of Jews in Berlin.

In other words: At the end of the war in 1945 Berlin was quite empty of Jews, and since the emergence of German and Jewish post-war states in 1948/49, it had only a very small Jewish population; but in between, for a relatively short and yet meaningful time, Berlin was an unexpected shelter for a bustling Jewish town, a stage for flourishing Jewish life.

Where exactly did this all take place? What remained there of this surreal past? And how is this story told in a city that is nowadays quite generally associated with memorial sites and commemorative plaques?

With these questions, the three of us set on to investigate the present reality of this history.