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Food distribution at the refugee camp on Johannisthaler Chaussee, in Berlin-Buckow November 7th, 1947.© bpk / US Army

80th Anniversary of Displacement and Expulsion. Arrival and Life in Berlin

Your Story Matters!

Did you arrive in Berlin as a refugee or expellee in the first post-war decades? Or did you pass through Berlin on your way elsewhere? Were the former German eastern territories or settlement areas in Eastern Europe your home? We would like to hear from you!

Schultasche von Ingrid Hantke aus Berlin

School bag belonging to Ingrid Hantke (left in the photo with Manfred Hantke in Berlin-Spandau, approx. 1953): Seven-year-old Ingrid fled Breslau with her family in January 1945 and, after a series of detours, arrived in Doberlug-Kirchhain in Brandenburg in May. Ingrid's step-grandfather Alfred moved to Berlin shortly afterwards, hoping to find better job opportunities there. He found work and the family followed him in 1946. They initially lived in a garden shed and later moved into a flat in Berlin-Spandau.© Dokumentationszentrum, Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung; S/2019/37

Objektfoto eines Teddys mit weißer Jacke und blauer Hose.

Christa Sammler fled Breslau with her grandparents in 1945, taking her teddy bear with her. After graduating from high school, the young woman studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden and began working as a sculptor in East Berlin in 1958. Her sculpture ‘Girl with Apple’ (second casting), created in 1961, can be seen in Nibelungenpark in Berlin-Lichtenberg.© Dokumentationszentrum, Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung; S/2025/125

Even 80 years after the end of the Second World War, your stories remain relevant. Share your experiences and memories of arriving and living in Berlin with us: for example, about finding housing and work, or your experiences in kindergarten and school.
Help us create an exciting collection of testimonies for future generations! We will display some of these testimonies in a special exhibition on refugees and expellees in Berlin after 1945. The exhibition ‘Refuge Berlin. Expellees in the Divided City’ will open in spring 2027.

How to participate:

Do you have objects, photos, or documents from that time?

We look forward to hearing from you!

Email: sammlung@f-v-v.de

contact form

Contact form

Write down your memories and use our contact form to submit your text along with information about your documents, photos or memorabilia. Simply fill out the form, and we will get in touch with you.

You can also reach us by email at sammlung@f-v-v.de or by mail at Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Exhibition & Collection, Anhalter Straße 20, 10963 Berlin.