Betty Cullmann lived with her non-Jewish husband and two sons in Berlin-Tempelhof. The National Socialists classed their relationship as a “privileged mixed marriage”—that is, Betty Cullmann did not have to wear a yellow star and was protected from deportation for a time. The pressure of persecution put an increasing strain on their marriage, with her husband threatening divorce.
When “Aryan” mothers and their children were told to leave Berlin in 1943 due to the frequent air raids, Betty Cullmann took advantage of the situation. Using forged papers from the Nazi Strength Through Joy organization, she managed to be evacuated with her sons as well. They went of stay on an East Prussian estate belonging to a count, who did not know their real identity. Ten-year-old Egon Cullmann, blond with blue eyes, attended school so as not to arouse suspicion. In September 1944 the Cullmanns left East Prussia with other evacuees as the Red Army advanced. Over the next few months, they fled via Saxony to Bavaria, where they experienced the end of the war. Betty Cullmann was divorced in 1947.