[Memoirs of Baronne Hildegard von Gumppenberg] ;

Hildegard Gumppenberg was a member of the Jewish community in Duesseldorf. She tried to escape persecution by hiding in the Berlin underground but failed. In 1942, she left her husband and children in Cologne and fled to France from where she hoped to immigrate to the US. Eventually she decided to stay in France and lived a double life with a fake identity. Her false name was Maguerite Ducaret. She lived in Lille, Paris, Dijon, Macon and Tramayes, but spent most of the time in Lyon and Toulon. She hid and worked for the German ‘Heimatkraftfuhrpark’ as an interpreter using her fake identity. In this position she was able to warn her friends about German plans. When the Nazis became suspicious about the interpreters, she left her job and started working for the Renault company as an interpreter. After the liberation of France she had problems explaining her fake and real identity and her work for the Germans. She was arrested several times. In October 1945, she was finally reunited with her family in Duesseldorf.