Steffens and Meyer families photographs

Wilhelm (b. 1903) and Fajga Dobra Meyer lived in Bottrop, Germany where they owned a department store. They had one son, Edgar August (b. 1937). During Kristalnacht, the Meyers were physically attacked, and Edgar was thrown from a second-story balcony. He was caught and rescued by neighbor Friedrich Sommer. Edgar was then hidden by nanny Johanna Banner and smuggled to England via the Kindertransport. After Kristallnacht, the Meyers left their business and immediately immigrated to Palestine, where they were also reunited with Edgar.

Liesel Appel (née Steffens, b. 1941) was born in Klingenberg, Germany to Heinrich (d. 1950) and Else Steffens. She had one older brother, Fritz (b. 1921). Heinrich worked as a headmaster in a public school and joined the Nazi party in 1933. During the war, he was appointed Minister of Education in occupied Poland by his friend, Erich Koch (Gauleiter of East Prussia and Reich Commissar of the Ukraine). After the war, American soldiers sought Heinrich for questioning so he went into hiding, and Else and Liesel moved to Else's hometown, Bottrop, Germany, to live with her parents. Heinrich returned in 1948 after his arrest, but died before his trial was scheduled to begin. Liesel became estranged from her mother over her parent's Nazi past, and left Germany at 17 to move to England, and later the United States.