The monogram embroiderer Euphrosine Recke lived in Berlin with her husband and their nine-year-old son Hans-Joachim. Through her sister Franziska Schröter, she met the Jewish couple Ilse and Joe David. The Davids were able to evade collection by the Gestapo in February 1943 and wanted to go underground. They were initially sheltered alternately by Franziska Schröter and other helpers such as the couple Walther and Eva Sprengel. When her sister’s home was destroyed in an air raid in November 1943, Euphrosine Recke took the Davids into her family’s two-room apartment. Because the Davids were not registered with the police and therefore received no ration coupons, their supporters provided them with food. Euphrosine Recke was sent extra food by her other sister, who lived in East Prussia, and passed it on to the Davids. She also provided food for other persecuted Jews hiding with Walther and Eva Sprengel.
Euphrosine Recke was honored as an Unsung Heroine by the Berlin senate in 1960.
Euphrosine Recke in her home, 1950s. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Certificate from the West Berlin senate honoring Euphrosine Recke as an Unsung Heroine, issued April 19, 1960. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
