Mueller Maria ; Husband: Gerhard

Müller, Maria Müller, Gerhard During the last years of the war, Gerhard and Maria Müller (b. 1902) lived in a large apartment house in Essen next to a half-Jewish family, the Kerklies. The Müllers, who were childless, cultivated very close and warm relations with their Jewish neighbors and their eight children. The non-Jewish father of the Kerklies family was taken, in August 1942, by the Krupp firm to Mulhouse (Mülhausen) in Alsace. In September 1944, the Gestapo deported the Jewish mother and the five elder children to an unknown destination. The Müllers thereupon began looking after the three younger daughters who were now left all alone – Edith, eight years old, Ruth, 11and Else, 12. Mr. Müller made every effort to obtain sufficient food for them all, while his wife did her utmost to keep up the spirits of the distressed girls. In the course of an especially severe air raid, the girls were recognized by one of the neighbors, who demanded that the Jewish children leave the public shelter. Mrs. Müller took her young wards by the hand and demonstratively left the shelter together with them – although all were shaking and trembling from fear. When, in October 1944, the Gestapo wanted to send the children away, Mr. Müller, himself a Nazi party member, threatened to leave the service forever unless they waited for the father’s return. By this means, he was able to achieve a certain respite and avert the deportation of the three girls. Their father, Mr. Kerklies, indeed succeeded in stealing his way back to Essen only some six weeks later. By an incredible stroke of luck, all the deported family members also returned home at the end of the war. On March 19, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Gerhard and Maria Müller as Righteous Among the Nations.