Did They Forget About Us : Surviving the Holocaust in Berlin

Did They Forget About Us is a unique story of survival in Nazi Germany, brought to a wider audience through Gilad Seliktar’s evocative visual storytelling. Klaus Zwilsky was born in 1932 in Berlin to Erich and Ruth Zwilsky. In September 1943, Klaus and his parents moved into the Jewish Hospital Berlin, where Erich had been working since the beginning of 1941. It is there, in the heart of the German capital and before the very eyes of the Nazis, that an unparalleled yet little-known story of Jewish survival during the Holocaust unfolded.

The Jewish Hospital in Berlin was the only Jewish institution in Nazi Germany, along with the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, that was permitted to operate throughout the war. The physicians, nurses, staff, and their families feared deportation at a moment’s notice as the hospital also served as a deportation holding camp (Sammellager) for Jews prior to them being sent to ghettos and death camps. Its eight hundred to one thousand Jewish residents, including Klaus and his parents, were liberated by the Soviet Army on 24 April 1945. On 1 July 1945, after not having been able to attend school for three years, Klaus was able to resume his schooling. And on 28 July, he celebrated the first Bar Mitzvah in Berlin after the war.

A rare tale of resistance and survival, Did They Forget About Us beautifully illustrates the little-known history of this Jewish cultural landmark and the bravery and resilience of its residents in the face of grave oppression.