Franziska Bereit spent several decades working in the Jewish Silbermann family’s household in Berlin-Wedding. When the Silbermanns faced increasingly repressive measures over the course of the 1930s, their former housemaid provided them with food and other essentials. Their daughter Adelheid Silbermann narrowly evaded arrest in the major raid of February 27, 1943, and sought refuge with Franziska Bereit. The latter also tried to save Adelheid’s parents, but Carl and Rosalie Silbermann were deported to Theresienstadt in April 1943.
In January 1944, Franziska Bereit also took Adelheid’s sister Therese Ornstein and her husband into her home. Despite the crowded conditions – she lived in a one-room apartment in Wedding – the three endangered Jews remained there until the end of the war. Bereit’s three children helped by providing food.
When West Berlin’s senate began honoring people as Unsung Heroes in 1958, Franziska Bereit was due to receive the award for her courageous help, but died shortly before the ceremony. The certificate was awarded to her son Rudi Bereit.