Bolette Burckhardt was the daughter of a Norwegian theologian; from 1931, she and her husband lived at Heilbronner Strasse 20 in Berlin-Schöneberg with their nine children. Theodor Burckhardt was the pastor of Zum Heilsbronnen Church until 1945. He was an early member of the Confessional Church.
The Burckhardts collected food ration stamps, which they passed on to persecuted people. On several occasions, Bolette Burckhardt gave her postal identity card to Jewish women and then reported it lost.
The Burckhardts harbored two Jewish couples in their home: Max and Ines Krakauer in the first week of August 1943, and Paul and Helene Helft in November 1943 and March 1944. Both couples survived.
Toward the end of the war, Bolette Burckhardt fell severely ill. The couple went to stay with relatives in Schleswig-Holstein in April 1945. Bolette Burckhardt died there shortly later.
In 2010, a plaque was installed at Zum Heilsbronnen Church, commemorating Theodor and Bolette Burckhardt’s brave actions.
Theodor and Bolette Burckhardt on their silver wedding anniversary, 1937. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Bolette Burckhardt (right) with her mother Marie Michelet, Oslo, 1942. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Sammlung Sandvoß
Plaque commemorating the Burckhardts (upper section), Berlin, 2010. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Son Günther Burckhardt (center), Pastor Christian Hövermann, and a parishioner after the unveiling of the plaque commemorating Theodor and Bolette Burckhardt, Berlin, 2010. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
