Jewish and returning to Germany

Eighty years ago, just days before the outbreak of the Second World War, a young woman, Kaethe Berliner, fled Nazi Germany. She made a new life in Great Britain and like many others was determined to leave the evils of Nazi Germany firmly behind her.

Naomi Scherbel-Ball is the granddaughter of Kaethe Berliner, and after years of deliberation, she has decided to reopen that door to the past. Naomi will be the first in her family to apply to reclaim German nationality and she is being joined by thousands of descendants of German Jewish refugees doing the same.

Despite the revival of both religious and secular German Judaism, the recent success of the far-right has awakened old fears. Has contemporary Germany changed enough for descendants of Jewish refugees to overcome the tragedy of the past?

Presented and Produced by Naomi Scherbel-Ball.

Picture credit: BBC