Henriette Kromolowski was born in Katowice in October 1878 as the daughter of the Jewish merchant Adolf Kromolowski and his wife. Her parents lived in good circumstances; she still had four siblings, all of whom attended high school. Henriette Kromolowski remained unmarried; from 1934 she lived together with her sister Erna Grabowski, née Kromolowski, her husband Herbert and their daughter Mirjam at Wartburgstraße 29 in Berlin-Schöneberg. In 1938, the daughter Mirjam emigrated to Palestine.

Valeska Krolik was born in Berlin on March 20, 1868, the daughter of the merchant Siegmund Krolik and his wife Berta, née Seegall.

Margarete Liebert was born into a Jewish family in Sondershausen on October 9, 1895. She moved to Berlin and married the merchant Ernst Koopmann, for him it was the second marriage. He had a daughter Renate from his first marriage, who was born in Berlin on July 23, 1931. Ernst and Margarete Koopmann then moved after 1938 to a relative of Margarete Koopmann, the widowed Jenny Liebert, at Beckerstrasse 5 in Schöneberg.

Ernst Koopmann was born into a Jewish family in Bremen on February 14, 1902. He became a merchant, moved to Berlin and married Betty Scharlinski, who was born in Berlin on August 25, 1905. Their daughter Renate was born on July 23, 1931.