​​Hedwig - known as Hedy - fled her homeland of Austria after the German forces arrived in March 1938. She travelled to England before arriving in Jersey on 15 November 1938.

​Hedwig registered as a Jew in 1940 under the First Order of the Regulations against the Jews. Despite her Jewish identity, she found work as an interpreter for the German transport staff, but went into hiding after being reported for smuggling petrol coupons. Hedwig faked her suicide, leaving a note and a pile of clothes on the beach at St Aubin’s Bay.

​However, the German authorities were not convinced and continued to hunt for her. While Dorothea’s Austrian husband was being forced to fight for Hitler's forces in Europe, she sheltered her friend. Hedwig was also in a relationship with a German officer, Lieutenant Kurt Rümmele, who smuggled food to her. After the Islands were liberated on 9 May 1945, Hedwig was finally able to come out of hiding and the pair married in 1949.

​Dorothea’s brave actions almost certainly saved Hedwig’s life. In 2016 she was posthumously awarded the honour of Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel, and in 2018 she became a British Hero of the Holocaust. Dorothea’s awards are displayed in the Occupation Tapestry Gallery of Jersey’s Maritime Museum.​