Elsbeth was the daughter of Siegfried and Johanna Fränkel, née Danziger of Schönlanke; Elsbeth’s siblings, all born in Schönlanke, were Anna Betty, Louis Jean and Sello.
Elsbeth’s sister Anna Betty had been deported from Berlin to the Riga Ghetto the previous year, on 13 January 1942; the fate of her brothers Louis Jean and Sello could not yet be ascertained.