Elsa Lohde was born in Berlin on July 26, 1902, the daughter of Siegfried Lohde and his wife Klara, née Grützner.

Denny Tawrigowski called Friedländer was born in Berlin on December 27, 1940, the son of musician and presenter Paul Tawrigowski and his second wife Charlotte née Modrze.

Charlotte Modrze was born into a Jewish family in Bochum on September 23, 1914.

Bella Tawrigowski called Friedländer was born in Berlin on March 10, 1941, the daughter of Herbert Tawrigowski called Friedländer and his wife Elsa née Lohde.

Helmuth Szprycer was born in Hamburg on August 8, 1929, the son of Julius Eliejzer Szprycer, a business traveler, and his wife Rosa, née Littmann. He had two older sisters: Giesa and Lotte. His parents had separated before his birth, so the siblings grew up with their mother's parents, Fanny and Joseph Littmann, in Berlin. They first lived at Landsberger Strasse 85 in Friedrichshain, then from 1934 in Schöneberg, Barbarossastrasse 8, in a four-room apartment. In 1938 his mother Rosa emigrated to England, and in 1940 his sister Lotte died of tuberculosis.