Marie-Elisabeth Lüders

After finishing school in Berlin's western district of Charlottenburg, she took singing and photography lessons before enrolling in a one-year course in economics for women at the 'Reifensteiner wirtschaftliche Frauenschulen' in the Hessian town of Nieder-Ofleiden.

During her studies, she founded a lobbying group in Berlin to promote equal educational opportunities for women.

Like many progressive women's rights activist from the middle classes, Lüders had joined one of Germany's liberal parties.

In 1937, she was imprisoned by the Gestapo, but released after four months, after international protests from women's rights groups and diplomats alike.

The so-called "Lex Lüders" – a law governing the rights of foreigners married to German citizens – was unofficially named after her.