Beate Berger

Beate Berger, a nurse and social worker born in Niederbreisig in 1886, initially worked as a saleswoman before choosing to become a nurse in her mid-20s. She completed her training in Frankfurt in 1912 and was a member of the Frankfurt Jewish Nurses’ Association. During World War I, she cared for war wounded as a surgical nurse for the German Red Cross.

In the 1920s, Beate took over the management of the Jewish orphanage at Auguststraße 14–16 (Berlin) with the support of her sister Else. Her youngest brother Alfred had been in Berlin since 1918 and ran the Workers’ Welfare Office of the Jewish Organizations of Germany at Auguststraße 17. There he offered legal advice to Jewish migrants on issues such as passports, residence permits, taxes, and housing. Her eldest brother Julius was the director of the Cologne City Theater and later secretary general of the World Zionist Organization.

Beate renamed the home “Beit Ahawah” (Hebrew: House of Love) in 1924. After the Nazis came to power, she and her three siblings organized the departure of the children from the home. They founded a new home in Kiryat Bialik near Haifa under the name “Ahawah.” And they were able to save over 100 children from the Shoah. Ahawah still exists today in Israel as a “home and educational institution for orphans and children from broken families.”

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