Before marrying the property and assets manager Paul Fromm, Elli Grunwald worked in the film industry, construction, and insurance. The couple lived in Berlin and had a daughter. The Nuremberg Race Laws classified their marriage as a “privileged mixed marriage,” meaning Elli Fromm did not have to wear a yellow star.
A wide range of contacts meant Elli and Paul Fromm were always well informed. From the fall of 1941, they knew that Berlin’s Jews were at threat of deportation. The Fromms soon began supporting several persecuted Jews who had not obeyed their deportation orders. The couple’s home became an important contact point for people in hiding. They took people at risk into their apartment for short periods, advised them, obtained food for them, or passed them on to trustworthy tenants in the buildings Paul Fromm managed.
For instance, Elli and Paul Fromm supported Helene Weiß while she was in hiding, and encouraged Ilse and Werner Rewald to go underground. They also sent packages to Max Klein, who had been deported to Theresienstadt in March 1943. Margarete Draeger spent several nights in the Fromms’ home before she was arrested and deported in the summer of 1944.
Elli and Paul Fromm, around 1965. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
