Elisabeth Teske lived in Berlin with her parents Luise and Wilhelm, who ran a shoemaking workshop. After 1933, Jews were increasingly excluded from society. The Teskes stood by their Jewish customers and acquaintances nonetheless, including their neighbor Annie Sachs. Elisabeth Teske invited her Jewish friends home to protect them against hostility on the street.
The Teskes were active in a Protestant religious community called Christian Assembly. In 1937 this brought them into the Gestapo’s sights. Wilhelm Teske was interrogated and their apartment was searched on several occasions.
The Teskes did not let that intimidate them, however. They helped persecuted Jews to escape Germany. They also stored luggage or important papers for them, and obtained food and medications. Elisabeth Teske supported her parents with these activities. She ran errands, obtained extra food, and took food to Jewish neighbors.
From January 1943, the Teskes housed the Jewish interpreter Lilli Katzenellenbogen in their small apartment for several months, and provided her with food until the end of the war.