The left-liberal teacher Elisabeth Abegg taught at a girls’ high school in Berlin from 1924. She was active on social issues and had many democratic-minded friends. At the beginning of the Nazi era, the school was to be reorganized to comply with National Socialist requirements. A circle of teachers and students objected, including Abegg. A determined opponent of the Nazi regime, she was transferred for disciplinary reasons in 1935 and forced to retire in 1941. She joined the Quakers religious community that same year.
In July 1942, a close friend of hers was deported, a Christian woman with Jewish origins. She had not accepted Abegg’s offers of help. Abegg decided to rescue as many endangered Jews as possible. She and her sister Julie took twelve people into their home in Berlin-Tempelhof, and she found hiding places with friends for others. She regularly provided food for people in hiding and also helped with money, obtained forged papers, and taught persecuted children. She was able to rely on help from her large circle of friends.
Elisabeth Abegg received the Federal Cross of Merit for her help in 1957, and in 1967 was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations.