In 1922 Hedwig Abraham married Joseph Mahler, born in Krefeld on 11 December 1894. Joseph Mahler, known as Jupp, served with the German army during World War I and sustained serious injuries. He received several military honours, including the Iron Cross.
Joseph Mahler was a journeyman printer. He and his wife intended to open their own printing house. In 1935 they had to leave Germany. They settled on the Roothaanstraat in Venlo and opened their company Refaka on the Panhuisstraat, where they manufactured office supplies and did printing.
The Venlo police suspected the couple of having communist sympathies and engaging in political activities prohibited to refugees. During a raid leaflets and Marxist literature were discovered. The two were declared unwanted aliens and were ordered to leave the Netherlands by 1 July 1937.
The couple went to Belgium. Possibly because of Hedwig Mahler-Abraham's involvement in the smuggling of food, the Belgian authorities returned the Mahlers to the Netherlands in March 1940. From there they were immediately taken across the border to Germany. On 11 April 1941 the Nazi police sent the Mahlers to Camp Westerbork, where Joseph Mahler worked in the mailroom and helped Jews escape from Westerbork.
On 19 March 1943 Joseph Mahler was transferred to Düsseldorf, where he was interrogated by the Gestapo about his alleged communist activities. He died there in prison on 1 September 1943. The cause of death was listed as heart failure.
B. Braber, Zelfs als wij zullen verliezen. Joden in verzet en illegaliteit in Nederland 1940-1945 (Amsterdam, 1990) 91-94
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