Erna Berta Zeh (4.6.1899 Munich – 29.10.1964 Landshut)

Early in the morning of August 31, 1936, two police officers searched the Zeh couple’s apartment. In addition to 181 books, including 60 Bibles intended for distribution, and numerous other Jehovah’s Witness publications, the officers found a “speaking device” (record player) and records. Back then, the Jehovah’s Witnesses used these at their meetings and for their mission activity. They also found a folder with a large number of court rulings from 1933 to 1936 against Jehovah’s Witnesses. Erna Zeh and her husband, the architect Ernst Zeh, were arrested, although the latter was not a Jehovah’s Witness. Erna Zeh had allowed Johann Kölbl, the leader of the Munich local group, to use her address as a cover for secret shipments. The Munich Special Court sentenced her to four months in prison on March 2, 1937. A total of eleven Jehovah’s Witnesses, including Johann Kölbl, were convicted in this trial against Bible Students. After her husband’s death, Erna Zeh moved to Haunstetten near Augsburg in 1944 and to Landshut in 1955. There is no information about her life after that.