Felice Schragenheim and Lilly Wust
Lilly Wust was a German woman living in Berlin with her children while her husband was away fighting with the Nazis. Felice Schragenheim was a Jewish woman hiding her identity and secretly working with the Berlin resistance.
In 1942, the two women met. Felice’s energy, charm, and love for life drew Lilly in, and the two fell deeply in love. Even though their relationship was considered forbidden at the time, they shared a strong bond and even created a symbolic marriage contract to express their commitment.
They wrote letters and poems to each other, and dreamed of building a future together. But their love story came to a sudden halt when Felice was arrested by the Gestapo on August 21, 1944, because of her Jewish background.
Lilly was able to visit Felice once at the Schulstrasse holding center, where Jews were sent before being taken to concentration camps. After that visit, the two only managed to exchange a few more letters. In her final letter, Felice signed it “Jaguar,” her nickname, and addressed it to Lilly, her “Aimée.”
On September 8, Felice was sent to Theresienstadt camp, and on October 9, 1944, she was transferred to Auschwitz. She later died in Bergen-Belsen in March 1945.
In a recent documentary, an elderly Lilly Wust said that she has never stopped loving Felice.