Edith Behr lived in Berlin. Her husband, a Jewish doctor, died in 1939, and her two daughters managed to emigrate to England. Although she had been baptized a Protestant, Behr was considered Jewish by the National Socialists.
In December 1941 she was drafted as forced labor. She was to be deported two months later, but her youngest sister prevented this. She also warned Edith Behr at the end of February 1943 that a major raid on factories was approaching, and Behr did not go to work. From March 1, 1943, Edith Behr lived in hiding.
Elisabeth Zimmermann, an acquaintance, gave Edith Behr her own identity papers. With the help of Dr. Hanns Lilje, later to become Bishop of Hannover, she forged the papers by adding Behr’s photo and drawing on the missing part of the stamp. In March 1943, she then took Behr to Dr. Lothar Kreyssig and his wife Johanna, who were housekeepers on an estate in Hohenferchesar near Brandenburg an der Havel. Edith Behr was able to stay there for several months. She later stated she had survived “with help from good people and my sister.” After the war, she joined her daughter Irmgard P. Booth in England.
