A resident of Munich who was married to a musician, in 1929 she joined the Bible Students (renamed Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931). During the war, she made her home available for bible study groups and meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. She also owned a photocopier, which was used to duplicate writings that regularly contained critical statements about the war and Hitler's government.
Therese Kühner, now widowed, was arrested on August 3, 1943 together with her sister-in-law Else Danhofer who was visiting her at the time. After spending a year in prison in Munich, the two were transferred to Berlin and sentenced to death by beheading by the People's Court on August 30, 1944 for disseminating anti-regime writings. According to the execution certificate dated October 6, 1944, Therese Kühner was calm and composed and “allowed herself to be placed on the guillotine without resistance”. A previous petition for clemency had been rejected. In it, she had claimed that she was not aware that she had been guilty of a crime that carried such a severe punishment. In a letter dated October 14, 1944, the Chief Reich Prosecutor informed her granddaughter Sofie Fischer of the execution and pointed out that the publication of a death notice was not permitted.
Since July 27, 2018, a plaque at Auenstraße 15 in Munich, the former home of Therese Kühner, has commemorated this courageous woman from Munich.
