Adele Matulla lived in Berlin with her parents Marie Auguste and Josef Matulla. The Matulla family were Catholics, and Adele also received a Catholic baptism.
At school she made friends with Helga Samuel, who was persecuted as a Jew. Her friend was later deported and murdered along with her mother and brother.
In 1940 Adele Matulla completed her training as a shorthand typist and took a job at the German Brewing Industry Association. Her fiancé Werner Rybarz was drafted into the Wehrmacht that same year. The couple married in June 1942 while he was on leave from the front.
From July 1943, the 21-year-old Adele Rybarz sheltered the persecuted couple Ruth and Helmut Wolf in her home. She concealed a small storage room using a wardrobe. Her father was aware of what she was doing. During the day, the Wolfs could not make a sound. It was hard to find food for them, but they received support from other helpers. The couple stayed with Adele Rybarz until December 1943.
In 1944 Rybarz was evacuated to Thuringia with her workplace. Her husband was in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. After the war, Adele Rybarz and the Wolfs remained in touch.
Adele and her father Josef Matulla on an excursion near Berlin, 1942. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Adele and Werner Rybarz with their baby daughter Barbara, Berlin, 1948. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
