Andrea Wolffenstein and her six years older sister Valerie had Jewish parents and were baptized as Protestants. After attending the Berlin Conservatory, Andrea Wolffenstein gave piano lessons until she was banned after 1933 from teaching “Aryan” students. She had to perform forced labor from 1940/1941.
The sisters went underground on January 11, 1943, and were initially taken in by non-Jewish friends in Berlin. Later, Andrea Wolffenstein was hidden in Confessional Church parish houses in Eastern Pomerania.
She returned to Berlin in August 1944 and was taken in by her old friend Donata Helmrich for a few days. Helmrich passed Wolffenstein off as Charlotte Maly, the secretary of her husband Eberhard, who had been conscripted into service in Drohobycz in German-occupied Poland. Donata Helmrich filled in a registration certificate in this name and had it conformed at the police station. Thanks to her actions, Andrea Wolffenstein also received food ration coupons and permission to travel. This enabled her to flee to southern Germany, where she survived in hiding until the end of the war.
Certificate and memento of Andrea Wolffenstein’s confirmation in Berlin’s Jerusalem Church on March 6, 1913. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Nachlass Wolffenstein
Confirmation of the costs of forged identity papers for Valerie and Andrea Wolffenstein, April 3, 1950. Source: Landesamt für Finanzen, Landesentschädigungsamt München, Entschädigungsakte Valerie Wolffenstein, München
Andrea (right) and Valerie (center) Wolffenstein at the confirmation of Andrea Schmidt, the daughter of another helper, 1958. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Andrea and Valerie Wolffenstein with Gertrud and Elisabeth Schiemann (left to right), Berlin, summer 1965. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Nachlass Wolffenstein
