In the garden of Eden, Eve gave Adam a piece of forbidden fruit bringing about his downfall. And ever since then, if you believe in Biblical legend, humanity has fallen for one temptation after another. And so it happened again in Berlin in the midst of World War 2. Join us as we tell the incredible love story of two women who had every odd stacked against them. In part one we dive into their individual histories and the events that brought them together. This is a tale of the forbidden love of Felice and Lilly. Today we tell a love story that rivals the great romances of history. It’s the tale of a Jewish rebel in Nazi Berlin, and the German woman who loved her. As we remember the Holocaust this Monday on Holocaust Remembrance Day, we also remember the countless love stories shattered by hatred, bigorty, and plain cruelty. Before we dive into the story of Lilly and Felice (Felicia), we do want to note that in episode 56 The Pink Triangle we covered the treatment of all LGBTQ Jews put into the concentration camps. We encourage you to go back and listen to that episode as well. But for now, we want to focus on a single and yet extraordinary tale of the most forbidden love. In a country deep at war and overrun by S.S. guards and Nazi soldiers, the city of Berlin still seemed to glisten in the dawn of 1943. Germany was winning the war by all accounts, chancellor Adolf Hitler and his henchmen were in high spirits. For most citizens they continued about their daily lives, most who were not Jews that is. The few remaining Jewish citizens now remained as part of the Jewish underground. Those who were known to authorities remained in hiding at the homes of German sympathizers. Others who could pass openly as German worked to get their fellow Jews out of Nazi controlled areas. These brave souls had torn off their yellow stars, acquired fake documents, changed their last names, and bustled around in the open. It was a unique prison in which they all lived. Leaving the country was incredibly risky and dangerous and those most at risk of detection always went first. Followed by children, then mothers, finally any men left who could get away. And left behind in the chaos were the courageous people who stayed and ran the underground operations.They lived on the streets and scourged for food, money, documents, information and more. Few of them had legitimate income as most had lost their jobs when laws had forbidden Jews from working. Their lot was a mixture of Jews, German supporters, and many unwitting accomplices. And one such accomplice was a woman named Lilly Wust. Born on November 1, 1913 Lilly Wust grew up in a traditional German home. She wasn’t quite 5 years old when Germany and the other Central Powers conceded to Ally victory in World War 1. As Lilly grew up so did her nation; rebuilding and re-seeking the prominence it had lost during the Great War.  When Lilly turned 20, Germany got a new Chancellor. A former soldier and new party leader named Adolf Hitler. It was around this time that Lilly married a banking accountant and settled down to become the mother of four rambunctious boys. Upon the birth of her fourth son she was awarded Germany’s bronze ‘Mother Cross’. It was the highest honor bestowed upon a mother and given to those who bore male children for Hitler and the Aryan race.  Just like most of her fellow German citizens at the time, Lilly was an anti-semite and a Hitler supporter. How much she truly dwelt on the suffering of the Jewish people and other ‘deviants’ of the nation we do not know. For most people they simply looked the other way and assumed the government must be just in its persecution of the Jews. She made jokes and hateful remarks and went about her days as if millions of people weren’t ...