The bookkeeper Gertrud Scharff lived in Berlin with her husband Werner. She performed forced labor at the Wiegel printing press. With the Wiegels’ knowledge, she printed forged factory ID cards at her workplace. Werner Scharff gave the identity cards to people living underground.
Gertrud Scharff went into hiding on June 10, 1943. She was initially taken in by the Wiegels and her colleague Ida Röscher. She had to change hiding places repeatedly, sometimes placing small ads to seek work. That was how she came to Arthur Ketzer. In October 1944, Röscher’s sister Paula Wendt arranged accommodation for her in Prieros, Brandenburg. The helpers did not know Gertrud Scharff’s identity. She was arrested in Prieros on October 13, 1944. When Werner Scharff tried to bring a repaired radio to her the next day, he was also arrested.
Gertrud Scharff was initially imprisoned in Alexanderplatz police prison, and later in the Schulstraße assembly camp. She was liberated there on April 22, 1945. Werner Scharff was murdered in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Gertrud Scharff emigrated to the United States in 1947. She remarried there, taking on the name of Solomon.
Gertrud and Werner Scharff, Berlin, around 1941. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
Factory ID card for the Berlin-Schöneberg Chemical-Metallurgical Laboratory for Werner Scharff alias Werner Schilling, presumably forged by Gertrud Scharff, Berlin, April 15, 1943. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
Release certificate from Schulstraße assembly camp for Gertrud Scharff, Berlin, April 22, 1945. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
Gertrud Scharff after the end of the war, Berlin, 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
