Born in 1938 in Höxter, Germany, Inga Berkey entered the world just as darkness was descending over Europe. When she was still a baby, her father was imprisoned in Buchenwald. After his release, the family fled Nazi Germany in 1939, escaping not to America—as they had hoped—but to Shanghai, China, one of the few places that would accept Jewish refugees.

Life in wartime Shanghai was marked by poverty, hunger, bombings, and uncertainty. Inga’s childhood memories include crowded living quarters, strict schooling, scarce food, and her mother placing a knitted tea cozy over her head during air raids for protection. Yet even amid hardship, she found comfort in Shabbat synagogue visits with her father and in the quiet resilience of her family.

After the war, Inga immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, where she rebuilt her life from the ground up. She married her teenage sweetheart, Joel, on their shared birthday, March 19, and together they built a family, a successful landscaping business, and a home filled with art, antiques, and treasured memorabilia from the past. A devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Inga eventually found her own creative voice through painting, filling canvases with color and life.

Though she rarely spoke publicly about her wartime experiences, her message is clear: cherish what you have, because it can be taken away in an instant. Inga Berkey’s life is a testament to quiet endurance, gratitude, and the simple but profound truth she shares about herself: *“I got through it.”*