Paula Warschaffsky came from a Jewish family which had emigrated from Russia to Denmark in 1897. Although her strictly religious parents were against it, Paulas married the non-Jewish Dane Orla Mortensen. Their daughter Tove was born in Copenhagen in August 1940.
On September 29, 1943, Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen was warned of imminent deportations of Jews. She fled with her daughter Tove to Gilleleje on the coast, hoping to escape to Sweden with the aid of fishermen. They were almost discovered in a raid. The municipal employee Svend Andreasen brought food to the escapees and suggested to Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen that Tove could stay with him and his wife. She hoped this was the best for her daughter, and continued her journey to Sweden alone.
Soon after Denmark’s liberation on May 4, 1945, Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen brought her now five-year-old daughter back to live with her. The child no longer recognized her, and wanted to go back to her foster parents. When Tove suffered more and more from the separation, her mother eventually allowed her to return to Gilleleje. Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen married again and had a son.