A call from afar

Georg was a trained book printer and opened a print shop in his father’s stationery store. Margarete and her mother-in-law both worked in the shop. This is how this local family history could have continued.

But Lothar does not grow up in Prenzlauer Berg and never gets to know his grandparents. In January 1939, he left the city with his parents and survived the Holocaust far from Berlin, in the Chinese port city of Shanghai.

The exhibition tells the story of a single family and thus also stands as a symbol of the fate of many unknown individuals: The establishment of a comfortable life, putting down roots in Prenzlauer Berg, forced exile, the murder of family members, the survival of those who fled, and the return to Berlin.

The present-day character of this district is also shaped by memory, the pain of loss, and the reconnection of many former residents and subsequent generations.

The display case exhibition is located in the hallway of the museum archive on the second floor.