Inge and Gustav Held lived at Rosenthaler Straße 43. Gustav Held’s medical practice was in the same building. He was Jewish, and from 1938 was only allowed to treat Jewish patients, under the title of “Krankenbehandler” or carer for the sick. Gustav Held was initially protected from deportation because his wife was not Jewish.
His contact to Otto Weidt came about in 1943, if not before, when Weidt needed a trustworthy doctor for Georg Licht, who had fallen severely ill in hiding. Inge Held worked as a secretary in the workshop for the blind from 1943, becoming one of Otto Weidt’s closest confidantes. She obtained legal papers for numerous people at risk by passing them off as victims of bomb damage. The Helds took a series of persecuted Jews into their home. They provided particular care to Günther Prege, the illegitimate son of their Jewish maid. Inge Held succeeded in obtaining custody of the boy and having him baptized by Pastor Heinrich Grüber. This protected both mother and son until the end of the war.
