Margarete Nebel and her husband Erich had to give up their department store in Upper Silesia after the 1938 November pogroms. Margarete Nebel’s husband emigrated to Britain in 1939, but she was unable to do so. She moved to Berlin, where she performed forced labor from December 1940. At the end of 1942, she and her friend Dora Kanner went underground together.
The two women often spent the day in the home of Elsa Blochwitz. They initially lived on money obtained by selling their jewelry, which Blochwitz partly sold for them. Blochwitz also supported them with food.
From May 1943, they spent most of their time in an apartment behind a shop in Prenzlauer Berg. When it was destroyed in an air raid at the end of February 1945, they took advantage of the general chaos to hide their Jewish identity and register as victims of bomb damage.
They went to Havelberg, where a relative of Dora Kanner had gone into hiding. Her helpers found quarters for the two women. As alleged victims of bomb damage, they could register officially and obtain food ration cards.
After their liberation, they returned to Berlin. Dora Kanner and Margarete Nebel emigrated to Britain in January 1947.
Certification of Margarete Nebel’s “illegal” life in hiding, Berlin, July 2, 1945. Source: Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 078, BEG Nr. 78372
Margarete Nebel’s identity card as an official Victim of Fascism, Berlin, August 26, 1946. Source: Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 078, BEG Nr. 78372
