In transit in Berlin - Homeless Jews in the zero hour aka Jewish Transit Berlin - From Hell to Hope

The ruins of Berlin in the immediate post-war period were an important refuge and meeting point for surviving Jews of Eastern Europe. From the outset of 1946, every day over 200 homeless people – so-called Displaced Persons – made it "illegally" into the Western sectors of the city. The transit camps, promptly established by the occupying powers, rapidly developed into Jewish shtetls with schools, theater companies, and all manner of Zionist groups. Over 120,000 people had passed through Berlin's three DP camps by the time they closed in summer 1948. This brief but significant epoch of eastern Jewish life in the midst of a still traumatized Germany has been all but forgotten. The film writer Gabriel Heim rekindles it in a gripping film with witnesses, historical film clips, and diverse photographic documentation.