Forced Homes

Antisemitic Housing Policy in Berlin 1939–1945

From 1939 on, almost half the Jewish population of Berlin was forcibly rehoused. Jewish people were evicted from their homes and allocated rooms in apartments occupied by other Jewish tenants. Most of these forced homes were the occupants’ last place of residence before they were deported and murdered. This participative project looks at the history of these forced homes.

At least 791 buildings contained forced homes

The stories behind selected buildings tell of how people were allocated forced housing, the conditions under which the Jewish occupants lived, and what happened to the apartments and their contents after they were deported.

Houses Download city map

*Basisdaten © OpenStreetMap-Mitwirkende | Kartografie © grebemaps.de | Gestaltung © Zoff Kollektiv*

29.11.2023

Event

Zwangsräume in Charlottenburg

Jüdische Berliner:innen wurden ab 1939 systematisch gezwungen, ihre Wohnungen zu verlassen. Sie mussten stattdessen in andere Häuser umziehen, die in jüdischem Besitz waren. Das Aktive Museum …

To the event

Key points of research

Discrimination against Jewish tenants began before 1939. Berlin housing associations stopped accommodating Jewish tenants as early as 1936.
From 1939 on, almost half the Jewish population was forced to move into allocated housing. Jews who had previously lived on the outskirts of Berlin were concentrated in inner-city lodgings.
The “Law on Tenancy with Jews” of April 30, 1939, provided the legal basis for forcing Jews to move into allocated housing.
At least 791 buildings in Berlin contained apartments where Jews were forcibly housed.
Although most of these buildings were in Jewish ownership, they did not have exclusively Jewish residents. The non-Jewish residents lived close enough to witness the plight and persecution of their Jewish neighbors.
Various players – from property managers to tax officers – were involved in ousting Jewish tenants from their homes and forcibly concentrating them in other buildings. This process was part of the “Germania” project directed by General Building Inspector Albert Speer.
Complete strangers were often forced to share accommodation. The duration of occupancies varied greatly, making life for Jewish tenants extremely unsettled and uncertain.

Background Information

Timeline

The timeline shows how antisemitic housing policy developed in parallel with other Nazi measures to persecute Jews.

Timeline