| Original caption: “Director Harold J. Fishbein, from the State College, Pennsylvania, talks with a group of Jewish refugees at the Düppel Center, a Displaced Persons camp in suburban Berlin.” Harold J. Fishbein (November 20, 1898 – June 11, 1996) was the Director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration’s Displaced Persons (DP) camp. Düppel Center, the largest displaced persons (DP) camp in the American zone of occupation in Berlin, was established by the United States Army in January 1946. The camp provided wooden huts and barracks for the refugees. By September 1946, Düppel Center sheltered 5,130 Jewish DPs, many of whom had fled post-war violence in Poland. Educational opportunities at the camp included an elementary school with 385 students as of December 1947, as well as a kindergarten and religious schools. Düppel Center published a Yiddish language newspaper, Undser Lebn (“Our Life”), supported a theatre group, Baderech (“On the Way”), and had a synagogue. DPs at Düppel formed a sports club and benefitted from employment opportunities in the neighboring urban area. Unfortunately, as a result of the Berlin Blockade, the residents of Düppel Center were abruptly evacuated from the region. The evacuation of the Düppel Center camp started on July 23, 1948, An American airlift carried Düppel DPs to Frankfurt am Main, and the camp was closed. In the 1950s, some buildings of the ex-Düppel Center were made to emergency accommodations for refugees and homes for the homeless. The last buildings were broken down in 1977/1978. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0781.jpg |
| Image Size | 165.65 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1202 x 937 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 19, 1946 |
| Location | Düppel Center |
| City | Berlin |
| State or Province | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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