ABSTRACT
The estate of the cultural philosopher and sociologist David Koigen contains a bundle of letters, neatly folded and pressed together in an envelope, marked as 'letters from parents and brothers'. These words are written in the hand of Helene Koigen, the philosopher's wife. The journey of the Liebe Zaltsman-Helene Koigen letters from Berlin to the Soviet provinces and back to the German capital may also have been arranged through diplomatic. Eastern Europeans, including Jews, formed the majority of the immigrants who settled in Berlin after the war. Like many others in their situation, the Koigens first sought safety in Kiev, capital of then-independent Ukraine, not far from their birthplace in Volhynia, in the hope of seeing a democratic state and civil society emerge from the ashes of war, revolution, and pogroms. Intellectuals like the Koigens made up only a small percentage — barely a few thousand — of the immigrant population of the city.
