Hildegard Spieth lived in Stetten in the Rems Valley, where her husband was a pastor. Since Helmut Spieth was drafted into military service in 1940, his wife had to run the parish office alone, with help from clergy from elsewhere. In February 1945 Pastor Otto Mörike from nearby Flacht asked the young woman whether she would take in a Jewish couple living in hiding, for a few days. Despite her concern for her baby son, Spieth was prepared to do so.
On April 10, 1945, Max and Ines Krakauer came to the Stetten parish house. A high-ranking church functionary was also staying there, with his wife. Spieth passed the strangers off as bombed-out Berliners. Intense fighting was still taking place in the area. When wounded soldiers were to be quartered in the house a few days before the arrival of the U.S. Army, the functionary’s wife asked Spieth to send the Krakauers away. However, she refused. Fortunately, the German soldiers were no longer placed in the house. On April 21, 1945, Max and Ines Krakauer’s years of struggling to survive came to an end.
In 1979 Hildegard Spieth received the Federal Cross of Merit for her act of courage.