In 1933, Merwedeplein in Amsterdam was a new square where people from different backgrounds lived side by side. That same year the first German-Jewish refugees settled there, hoping to find a safe haven.

Historian Rian Verhoeven speaks about the rich Jewish history of Merwedeplein, based on her book Anne Frank was niet alleen. Het Merwedeplein 1933–1945, including residents such as shop owner Sal Cardozo, diamond worker Louis Asscher and bridge champion Regina Cosman.

One of the families who lived on the square was the Karlsberg family. Evelyn Karlsberg, coming from Edinburgh, shares their story: her father Walter, aunts Ruth and Rahel, grandparents Bernhard and Ilse, and great-grandmother Franziska. After fleeing Hamburg, the family settled at Merwedeplein in 1938. In May 1940 they tried to escape by rowing towards England. Only weeks later the Gestapo stood at their door.