Holocaust survivors in post-war Germany | DW Documentary
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Published 2023-05-06
When World War Two ended in 1945 with victory over Nazism, millions of POWs and slave laborers were able to return home. But for around 50,000 Jews freed from concentration camps, there was nowhere to return. Deported from their eastern European homelands by the Nazis, the Jewish refugees now found themselves in camps for Displaced Persons run mainly by the US Army. One of the largest DP camps was in the town of Landsberg am Lech, in southern Germany. Between 1945 and 1950, it was a ‘city within a city’, home to up to 7,000 Jews.
The DW documentary ‘In the Land of the Perpetrators - Holocaust Survivors in Post-War Germany’ meets survivors of the Shoah liberated near Landsberg and later housed in the DP camp and in the town. The survivors tell of the fate of their families and their own attempts to rebuild their lives. But as 94-year-old Jakob Bresler, who survived 11 concentration camps and ghettos, recounts, ‘What was normal for us, wasn’t normal for the rest of the world. We were disturbed children.’
Life in the DP camp was marked by the trauma of the Holocaust, the search for family members, the need for education and professional skills - and the yearning to leave Germany. Over time, the world found out more about fate of the Jewish survivors. As New York historian Atina Grossmann describes, the DP camps became a global political issue.
The film also exposes what Germany called the ‘Zero Hour’ - the term used to imply a radical break with the past after the war - as an oft-questionable attempt at self-exoneration. In the town of Landsberg in 1951, for example, a solidarity rally attended by local residents called for ‘Christian mercy’ - not for the victims of Nazi tyranny, but for the Nazi mass murderers standing trial in the town and facing the death penalty for their crimes.
In the Nazi era, party officials in Landsberg had built a huge concentration camp complex for almost 30,000 prisoners, most of them Jewish. The film also accompanies Helga and Manfred Deiler, a married couple from Landsberg who have spent the last 40 years campaigning for a fitting new memorial in their town.
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All Comments (21)
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As a kid I was in displaced persons camps in Coburg, Ingolstadt, and Regensburg. Came to Canada in 1949 and have had a great life here.
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My uncle survived Osterode work camp and came to Canada after the war. Thank you for this video which aligns with his experience.
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when I was in school in the uk, some of the boys brought in a holocaust denial leaflet, and we had this monk who for some reason was a part time religious studies teacher and he heard about it and talked to the headmaster . And he gave us a talk , and the monk it turned out had been a British tank commander who took part in the liberation of Belsen .he brought in photos of himself in uniform. And talked to us for over a hour about what it was like dead bodies everywhere people just dropping dead his experiences of the war he had seen a lot of action and mainly Belsen had made him have a belief in god and eventually to becoming a monk , anyway it had had a big effect on him , its a pity more people couldn't have heard his talk or that we didn't record it this was in the 1970s.
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My uncle was at Landsberg concentration camp before he was liberated so this particular video holds personal significance for me. It struck me that so many years after the holocaust, local townspeople still oppose a commemoration of the Jews that were murdered.
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Such a great video. My parents met and started a family while in Landsberg DP camp. Thank you to the creators for the ongoing efforts to document this important part of the Shoah story.
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Time is short for the last of the living who suffered due to the Holocaust I find it very moving to listen to their troubles and their struggles. Great documentary .
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Far too many perpetrators were not held to account. It’s simply awful that the survivors continued to be harassed after liberation.
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I'm a little but floored by quote of the woman that said 'Americans are barbarians to make us look at this.' I am so sorry for this man having to hear these words after everything he had seen and experienced. What a fascinating documentary. There must be so many stories that will never be told.
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My parents met and married in the Landsberg DP camp. It was the beginning of their new life that took them ultimately to California where they raised a family and became proud Americans. They were among the only survivors of each of their families in Poland and their survival followed years of suffering in ghettos, concentration and labor camps including Warsaw, Lodz, Auschwitz and Dachau. The memorial and museum currently being established in Landsberg is of extraordinary importance as part of the documented history of the Shoah and its aftermath.
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The DW documentary sheds light on a poignant and important chapter in history, revealing the struggles and resilience of Holocaust survivors in post-war Germany. The efforts of the Deiler couple to create a meaningful memorial exemplify the ongoing commitment to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten. What a thought-provoking and moving documentary.
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High praise and kudos to DW for making this important documentary.
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It’s so hard to think that they have to fight for a memorial!! It is a complete abomination that there are people who want memorials for the perpetrators!!!
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amazing documentary- the survivors are few now, may their memories be a blessing
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It AMAZES me there are still Holocaust survivors still alive to this day. My grandfather fought in WWII. He was on the European front. He died a LONGTIME AGO. 💯
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How can we donate to the memorial foundation? It seems even today they get little support from the surrounding community
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Thank you for sharing.
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Beautiful humans, thank you for all you do in educating us and keeping the memories alive of what reality was like for you and all of those involved ❤
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Thank you for so much new information.
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I was on a volunteer historical project at the former concentration camp in Neuengamme( Hamburg). It was organised by a German organisation in cooperation with other EU countries. During the two weeks we were talking to German high school graduates, their relatives, locals. They confirmed that in their homes "the topic" wasn't common to be discussed, in some cases NEVER discussed! The group rather learned details from these educational sessions around the memorial. It's been a life changing experience for me to spend 2 weeks in a former concentration camp!
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Grrowing up in Landsberg county, I remember the city slowly coming to terms with its dark history during my childhood and teenage years in the 1980s and 1990s. When my mother went to high school, WWII and the Holocaust weren't mentioned at all in history lessons.
