Resettlement, Evacuation and Displacement the area in late 1944, the Kocurs, afraid of Soviet repressions and the renewed confiscation of their farm, took their four children and fled westwards. On the way they were seized by German authorities and deported to Linz in Austria as forced labourers. In early 1945 they were moved to the forced labour camp in BerlinSchöneweide. While the parents and their oldest son were made to work in the Pertrix factory, the younger children were left to fend for themselves in the camp. During an air raid on 22 February 1945, the family managed to escape and fled to Bavaria, where they were liberated in April 1945 by American troops. For the Kocurs, returning to their homeland, now part of the Soviet Union, was out of the question. They saw their future in the United States. They were indeed officially recognised as Displaced Persons (DPs), that is, as people who had been deported during the war and were stranded in Germany at war’s end. After four years in various DP camps the Kocurs were permitted to emigrate to the United States in 1949.1 DISPLACED PERSON REGISTRATION RECORD FOR SOFIE KOCUR Forchheim, Bavaria (American occupation zone of Germany), 12.12.1945 In order to emigrate to the US after the war, the Kocur family had to be recognised as Displaced Persons (DPs) 1 www.dz-ns-zwangsarbeit.de/ zeitzeugenarchiv/interviews/ video/kocur-maria-und- theodor/, accessed 19.06.2023.
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