ARD History
Kinder der Flucht
S1 • E13 May 8, 2023 1h 40m
They are among the last living witnesses of flight, expulsion and deportation at the end of the Second World War. Today they are well over 80; back then they were children. Never before have they reported so emotionally and mercilessly in public about their traumatic experiences at the end of the war and in the early post-war years. Infested with lice and half-starved, they camped in the open air, in the rubble of big cities or along the railway lines. Some lost their parents and wandered around as orphans. Others narrowly escaped death themselves, through luck, coincidence or an unexpected helping hand. All of them are scarred by the events for their entire lives. They recognize themselves in the children who are now fleeing the war in Ukraine.