The Treuhandanstalt (THA), after the fall of the Berlin Wall, became the German government's trustee of all  East Germany's buildings, all 3,68 million hectare of land, all 20000 small,medium and large shops, and  8500 state owned enterprises with more than 40,000 individual plants and 4.7 million employees. The THA became the agency that determined the disposal of state owned properties and affected all 16 million former east Germans by its decisions.

The process of changing from a command economy to a market oriented economy began on March 1, 1990 with the founding of theTHA.The mandate of this agency quickly became to privatize all state owned property and to establish a competitive economy within what had been communist East Germany.

It was the goal that by privatizing businesses international investors would follow.
The instability of the east German "lands" caused by the sudden closing of the factories and shops leading to an unemployment rate that even "officially " topped 20% in 1992 dissuaded  financial investments from outside Germany.

Old antiquated factories in which families had worked across generations were put up for sale, when no buyer could be found , were either severely discounted or shut down completely.

"Last Cemetery in Berlin" is a film abut a property claim focused on an old printing press building, the fictional "Prenzlauer Press".

The THA had its hands more than full in getting companies privatized and then  discovered it  had one very large obstacle in its way: property claims.

A property claim stopped any action on the property claimed until legal title could be established. Some said to address the 2.3 million east German property claims that poured onto the desks of theTHA after the fall of the Berlin Wall  could take up to 20 years to sort out.

That was unacceptable and a new law was put into effect in March 1991 that removed the right of a former owner to reclaim a property unless the owner could guarantee continuation of the business and if the owner had enough capital to completely renovate the property.

If these conditions could not be met the owner ,if a claim could be found to be valid , could apply for restitution , a "monetary " compensation.But could not have the property returned.

Proving a claim valid, many of these claims arising from expropriation during the 1930's could be a very difficult undertaking as the mother,Lily, and her daughter, Kathleen, in the film "Last Cemetery in Berlin" discover.