RW Stories in Development
Louise and Ida Cook
The Remarkable Women Who Rescued Jews from the Nazis
To the world, Louise and Ida Cook were sisters who led quiet and unremarkable lives in 1930s London. With their unsophisticated demeanor and no-frills clothes from Marks and Spencer neither attracted much attention as clerk typists for the British Civil Service.
But under the surface, the sisters were daring humanitarians. In the years leading to World War II, they rescued 29 Jewish families from Germany as the Nazis’ rose to power. Working alone, without the knowledge or support of the British government or an international agency, they risked their lives traveling to Germany to meet with members of the resistance and refugees. They smuggled out valuables belonging to these refugees and upon returning to London, sold them, using the money for pledges that would enable these same refugees to be admitted to Britain. With their own funds, they traveled as “nervous British spinsters” and fanatical opera fans attending performances in Vienna, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. Their trips were planned around their day jobs and done on weekends so they could be back at work on Monday mornings.