Moehring Georg & Dorothea (Irmischer)

Moehring, Georg Moehring, Dorothea Siegmund and Margarethe Weltlinger lived in Berlin. They had no children. During WWII, Siegmund was employed by the Jewish community, a position which provided him and his wife with temporary protection from deportations, which began in the fall of 1941. In February 1943, when the systematic roundup of the remaining Jews of Berlin was launched, Moritz Henschel, the head of the Jewish community, ordered Siegmund to join the orderlies who were charged with bringing Jews to the assembly point, where they awaited deportation. Siegmund refused, knowing that this meant he would be deported himself. He rushed home, took some belongings, and together with his wife went underground. The couple first turned to an acquaintance, Elsa Schiller, who was half-Jewish. (At the time she was not included in the deportations, but in 1944, when half-Jews and Jews in mixed marriages were deported, she too was taken to Theresienstadt). The Weltlingers hid at Schiller's home for six months, until one morning the house was searched. The couple managed to hide behind a bookcase, but after that terrifying experience, they decided it was too dangerous to stay, and went in search of an alternate hiding place. The Weltlingers decided to go to the home of acquaintances, Georg and Dorothea Moehring, who lived in the Pankow suburb of Berlin. Much earlier, when the situation of the Jews was deteriorating, the Moehrings had offered them help and told them they would always be welcome if the necessity arose. They were devout Christians and opposed the Nazis, and believed it was their Christian duty to help their friends. The Moehrings lived in a small two-roomed apartment with their two daughters, but did not hesitate to open their door to the persecuted middle-aged couple. Siegmund and Margarethe slept on mattresses laid out at night on the kitchen floor. During air raids, they could not go down to the shelter in the basement lest one of the neighborsdenounced them. When the building warden checked if all the tenants had gone down to the shelter, Georg would wait for him at the apartment door, lock it in his presence and assure him that no one was left inside. During the first six months of their stay with the Moehrings, a friend of the Weltlingers supplied the family with illegal ration cards, but for the rest of their time in hiding both rescuers and rescued had to make do with the Moehrings' ration cards. While they were hiding with the Moehrings, Georg encouraged Siegmund to read the Bible. In his memoir, Siegmund Weltlinger said that this experience made him contemplate the role of religion. It is likely that it also led to Weltlinger's post-war affiliation with the Jewish-Christian dialogue group of Berlin, of which he was nominated Jewish chairperson. On October 11, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Georg and Dorothea Moehring as Righteous Among the Nations.