Eva Eylenburg and her husband Gerhard, a Jewish businessman and former officer, had to perform forced labor for Siemens in Berlin from 1940. On January 14, 1943, Gerhard Eylenburg was arrested for failing to wear the yellow star. He was able to escape by night and sought out Colonel Wilhelm Staehle in Berlin-Frohnau. Staehle and his wife Hildegard actively supported people at risk.
Through Staehle, Eva Eylenburg initially hid with the Jahn family in Hohen Neuendorf, a village north of Berlin, while her husband stayed with Max Berner, an acquaintance of Staehle. From July 1943 the couple were occasionally hidden together, and from May 1944 at all times.
Wilhelm and Hildegard Staehle, who were part of the resistance circle formed around Hanna Solf, were arrested in the summer of 1944, and the Eylenburgs had to find a new hiding place on July 3, 1944. They were liberated in April 1945 while living in a dilapidated shed belonging to a non-Jewish acquaintance, Reinhold Klau, in Potsdam-Babelsberg.
The couple were divorced in June 1945; they did not have children. Eva Eylenburg married the Dutch former forced laborer Antoon Soeteman that same month.