Beyond Belief: Berliners and the Holocaust

As the daily life of Berlin's Jews became even more difficult under the Nazi regime, rumour and hearsay grew about the fate of those 'evacuated' to the east. How much did ordinary Berliners know about the fate of their neighbours?

Yet, as the congregation was leaving Levetzowstrasse that evening, events took a sinister turn. At that moment Gestapo officials appeared at the synagogue demanding the keys to the building. Jewish community elders were ordered to go to the Gestapo office on the Burgstrasse, where they were informed that the ‘resettlement’ of the Berlin Jews was soon to begin. They were told that the Jewish community itself was required to cooperate fully in the resettlement and that the synagogue on Levetzowstrasse was to be used as a transit camp for those selected for deportation.

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