Maria Nickel

Maria Nickel. . , Maria Nickel, of Berlin, Germany, was a deeply religious woman who managed to save the lives of Ruth and Walter Abraham and their child. In 1942, Ruth Abraham, who was eight months pregnant, was working as a forced laborer in a Berlin factory manufacturing aspirin for the German army. There she was approached by Maria Nickel, who brought her food and offered to save both Ruth and her husband, also a forced laborer at another site in Berlin. Having made certain that the woman was sincere in her offer of assistance, the Abrahams put themselves in her hands. Nickel provided false papers for Ruth and gave Walter her husband's driver's license for identification purposes. In 1943, two weeks before Ruth was to give birth, the Nazis announced that all Jews were to be deported. Maria Nickel hid Ruth until the baby was born. She then found safe quarters for Ruth, and she kept and raised the baby with her own infant son until the end of the war. Maria Nickel was honored at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 1970.