Maria Wellek (11.1.1885 Munich – 29.4.1968 Munich) and Melanie Wellek (18.10.1915 Munich – after 1977)

Maria Wellek had belonged to the Jehovah's Witnesses since the mid-1920s. Even after the religious community was banned by the National Socialists in 1933, she organized Bible study groups in her apartment, in which her daughter Melanie also participated. Melanie Wellek, who was a stenotypist by profession, also prepared the templates for creating copies of several “Watchtower” editions. In 1936, this resident of Haidhausen wrote addresses for the dissemination of illegal protest flyers at the request of Elfriede Löhr. She helped get the flyers ready to send and also participated in their distribution. She also helped bring writings to the illegal book warehouse at Baaderstraße 22. Maria Wellek was arrested at the beginning of 1937 and was sentenced on May 11, 1937 to three months in prison by the Munich Special Court. Hardly had she been released when she engaged herself once again on behalf of her religious community and she was therefore arrested again. On October 28, 1937, the Munich Special Court sentenced her to six months in prison. Her daughter Melanie stood with her before the court; Melanie was sentenced to four months. Both women outlived the Third Reich, continued living in Haidhausen after the war, and remained part of the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses there. In 1977, Melanie Wellek moved to Husum in Schleswig-Holstein.