When the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, the writer and journalist Miriam Hochberg was living in Kraków. As the German occupiers’ persecution of Jews increased, she obtained forged Polish identity papers in the name of Maria Górska in 1940. Under this disguise, Hochberg carried out underground work for the Jewish cell of the banned Polish Socialist Party. She wrote for the underground press, distributed flyers, and forged documents. In 1943 she joined the Kraków branch of the Żegota aid organization. She passed on forged documents and distributed financial aid to persecuted Jews. She also arranged escapes from the Kraków ghetto.
After the war, Hochberg worked for the Central Committee of Polish Jews in Warsaw. In 1948 she emigrated to Israel with her husband Mieczysław and son Roman, and changed her surname to Peleg. From 1963 to 1978, Miriam Peleg was director of the Tel Aviv branch of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center. She was a member of the committee awarding the title Righteous Among the Nations.