The school student Felicitas Baumann lived in Petershagen near Berlin. In 1936 she lost both parents to illness. Her grandmother Lydia Hocke took her in, while her brother Heinz went to live with relatives in Neustadt/Dosse.
In March 1943 her grandmother placed the Jewish woman Chawa Berman in the neighboring building, and provided her with food. 15-year-old Felicitas Baumann was aware of the situation, and helped. She knew she must not speak to anyone about it, and she did not. Felicitas Baumann made several trips to a certain shop in Berlin, where she received food for Chawa Berman.
The Red Army liberated Petershagen on April 21, 1945. Felicitas Baumann experienced the liberation in a bunker. Chawa Berman informed the soldiers in Russian that she was a surviving Jew. This saved everyone in the bunker from acts of violence.
Felicitas Baumann’s grandmother died of dysentery in June 1945. Entirely alone, Felicitas Baumann sold the house, married in 1947, and moved to Eggersdorf.
Lydia Hocke (right) with her granddaughter Felicitas Baumann outside her house at 69 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße in Petershagen, around 1939. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Gate to the house at 69 Kaiser-Wilhem-Straße in Petershagen, where Lydia Hocke lived with her partner August Weber and her granddaughter Felicitas, Petershagen, around 1940. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
