The Berlin Ghetto

Berlin Ghetto tells the story of a group of young people who had lives filled with intellectual exploration, intense friendships and romances - and dangerous, illegal political action against the Nazi regime. The roots of anti-fascism in the Communist, Socialist and Jewish youth movements of pre-Nazi working class Berlin are examined. The story of Herbert Baum and anti-fascism in the heart of Hitler's Reich is told through oral and written testimony of survivors, friends and relatives of group members, Nazi trial records and other primary documents of the period. In May of 1942, Baum and several others went into the massive anti-Soviet and anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda exhibition Das Sowjet-Paradies (Soviet Paradise) and set off several small explosive devices. A comrade of Baum's was interrogated by the Gestapo and under torture gave them a list of people associated with the Baum group. One by one, those on the list were arrested, put on trial and executed. Others were sent to concentration or death camps, whilst a few managed to survive underground. Berlin Ghetto is a testament to courage and youthful sacrifice, to Jewish (and non-Jewish) anti-fascist resistance in Nazi Germany.