Heinz Steinitz
Heinz Steinitz was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) on April 26, 1909, to Walter Steinitz (1882-1963), a cardiologist and zoologist, and Marta Schindler Steinitz (1885-1926). He grew up in Breslau and was greatly inspired by his father to study science and to be an active Zionist. He studied medicine from 1927-1933 in the universities of Breslau, Freiburg and Berlin. Although he passed the Medical Board examination in 1933, and would have started work in a hospital in Berlin and in the Jewish hospital in Breslau, he was prohibited from practicing by the Nazi regime which came to power that same year. Together with his wife Ruth Aber Steinitz (1907-1995), a medical student as well, he left Germany in 1933 and immigrated to Palestine.
Hedwig Potthast
Through Kurt Baron von Schröder, one of the founders of the "Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft" ("Circle of Friends of the Economy"), she met "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler. In 1934, she was employed at Gestapo headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse in Berlin. From early 1936 until early 1941, Potthast was Himmler's private secretary, and in this function was particularly responsible for Himmler's sponsorship and giving of awards.
Himmler and Potthast confessed their love for each other at Christmas time in 1938. At first they tried to keep it platonic, but they fell into an adulterous relationship. Himmler's wife since 1928 and mother of their daughter, Margarete Himmler, found out about Himmler's relationship with Potthast at some time in February 1941. She felt humiliated and bitter, and Potthast's parents rejected the extramarital relationship. Potthast first took up residence in Grunewald and from 1943 she lived in Brückentin, near the estate of Oswald Pohl, because she was a friend of his wife, Eleonore. Lina Heydrich, wife of Himmler's right-hand man Reinhard Heydrich, and Gerda Bormann, spouse of Martin Bormann, were also counted among her friends. Later she lived in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria.