Ilse told the story that Rosa travelled by train to Rome, probably shortly before flying to England. The daughter of a friend gave Rosa jewelry for Rosa to get of the Germany on her behalf. 

Rosa bought herself a first-class ticket and found an empty compartment, the jewelry tied into her underwear, only to find  herself being joined by a Gestapo officer, who felt free of course to make a pass at any female he came across. Ilse had similar tales to tell; the Gestapo seemed to make a habit of it, never passing up an opportunity. They knew full well they could get away with it. 

And what of Rosa, Gerhard's mother and Susie's paternal grandmother, who along with Susie also remained in Germany until March 1939?

Rosa had had to leave the apartment in Steglitz, certainly by 1937 when Gerhard sold the business. First she had moved to the house in Schweinfurtstrasse 62, Berlin-Dahlem, specifically to get out to the way of the ever increasing Nazi activity in the business areas of the city, where brutal thugs and bullyboys were operating. 

Gerhard's father had died in 1928. Rosa had remained at the apartment with Gerhard but when Gerhard and Ilse married in 1933, it is thought that Rosa then moved to Dahlem.

Dahlem was and remains today a very desirable part of Berlin, the location of Berlin's Botanical Gardens, painted by Minna, and with many large and imposing houses. Rosa's detached property, with its pretty garden, also painted by Minna, was situated near the park in a tree-line road in walking distance of Steglitz and the Schlossstrasse. 

Sue and her husband were immensely grateful to be permitted to book round the former family apartment at the time of their visit to Berlin with Peter and Reike Nash in June 2001 by Dr H Lazar a surgeon, who lived there at the time. Indeed, Dr Lazar was intrigued to learn more of the apartment’s history

The Schlossstrasse side of the L-sgaped building in 2001 remains almost exactly as it had been, still very recognizable from the family photographs taken probably in 1937, just before it was sold.

The family was still living at the Nachodstrasse 7 address in June 1906, awating the completion of the construction of the five story block in the main street of Steglitz, on the corner of Schlossstrasse 97/Kelerstrasse 1, being built for Moritz. It would be his third large department store in Berlin; the previous one had been in the affluent suburb of Charlottenburg close by.

Kaufhaus Feidt was a department store, dealing in clothes and hats, linens and fabrics, household goods and furnishings and much else besides.