33 Facts About Marga Spiegel

Marga Spiegel was a German woman who went into hiding with her daughter in 1943 during the Holocaust of World War II.

Marga Spiegel's husband hid during the war, but separately from the family since it was harder to conceal a Jewish man of military age.

Marga Spiegel was well known in the farming community as a cattle and horse trader.

Marga Spiegel's family was persecuted by the Nazis beginning in 1933 when Adolf Hitler became chancellor, and the Nazi Party changed Germany's form of government to a dictatorship.

Marga Spiegel's parents operated a retail store and a shop that made blueprint dye.

Marga Spiegel graduated from high school the same year that Adolf Hitler, a dictator, became the chancellor, and the Nazi Party came into power and initiated antisemitic laws.

Marga Spiegel's leverage was that he had fought during World War I She studied mathematics and physics for a year or so, but she left the school after classmates harassed her for being a Jew.

Marga Spiegel was the aunt of Paul Marga Spiegel, who became the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Marga Spiegel's husband served during World War I and received the Iron Cross for courage on the battlefield.

Marga Spiegel's feelings changed after Kristallnacht when men from the Nazi Sturmabteilung organization entered the Spiegel's residence in Ahlen and used clubs to beat Siegmund, Spiegel, and her sister Inge Johanna Rothschild.

Marga Spiegel found that the farmers offered shelter when they needed it, and until then, they dropped off food periodically for the Spiegels.

Marga Spiegel had blonde hair like stereotypical Aryans, so the mother and daughter would more easily blend in with other Germans.

Marga Spiegel told Karin that her father was a soldier and was going away to fight the war.

Marga Spiegel was fortunately warned when SS personnel were in the area.

Marga Spiegel said that she believed the farmers and their families were motivated by their faith and sense of humanity, explicitly mentioning that they were driven by the commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself".

Marga Spiegel offered to help the Spiegels with food and shelter.

Marga Spiegel found out about Siegmund and promised not to tell anyone that he was at the Pentrop's house.

Marga Spiegel stayed hidden throughout the day, and at night he could go for a short walk.

Marga Spiegel put on Pentrop's uniform from World War I, wore his own Iron Cross medal, and Siegmund pretended that he was visiting on a holiday.

In one case, Marga Spiegel moved out after one of the yellow badges fell out of its hiding place in her glove seemingly unnoticed.

Marga Spiegel was recognized for supplying essential goods and shelter.

When she was there, Marga Spiegel attended church with Johanna Sickmann.

Marga Spiegel came to know Father Venantius, who offered to take in Marga Spiegel and her daughter at the monastery if they needed shelter.

Marga Spiegel escaped and went to the Sickmann's house, where mother and daughter stayed throughout the end of the war.

Marga Spiegel claimed that her paperwork was destroyed during the bombing.

The Sickmann's granddaughter, Leoni Sickmann, attended the school in Werne that was named after Marga Spiegel and was at the ceremony that Spiegel attended when the school was opened.

Marga Spiegel was treated well, and Marga was able to visit him occasionally at their farm.

Marga Spiegel lived there until the end of the war.

Marga Spiegel was interested in leaving Germany after the war, but her husband insisted that they stay there.

Marga Spiegel visited school classrooms to tell of her experiences during the Holocaust.

Marga Spiegel wrote her book, Saviors in the Night in 1960 that told about how German citizens saved her from the concentration camps.

Marga Spiegel died from natural causes on 11 March 2014 in Munster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Marga Spiegel was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Ahlen.