Berta Müller lived with her parents and siblings in Prešov, Czechoslovakia. The Jewish family moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1928, and Müller trained in decorative arts. From 1940 she performed forced labor and was spared from deportation temporarily. At the end of 1942 she and her sister Eva Müller planned to escape to Switzerland with her sister’s fiancé Robert Eisenstädt. When the time came in February 1943, Berta Müller decided against the dangerous escape attempt. In March 1943 she was ordered to report to the Gestapo. At the last minute, she asked her non-Jewish doctor Fritz Kahl for help. She was able to hide with him and his wife Margarete for several weeks. Dr. Kahl obtained forged identity papers which she used to escape to Vienna.
From there, she wanted to continue to Budapest. The plan failed because her identity card was not sufficient to cross the Reich border. She found work and accommodation in Vienna, but without registering with the police she was at constant risk of discovery. She spent many nights in the Prater gardens, on the banks of the Danube, or on trains.
Berta Müller survived. After the war she emigrated to the United States.