German trade unionist, a dedicated advocate of labour unionism, and an active, steadfast and brave opponent of the Nazi regime.
The second of nine children, her life changed after her father, Richard Sahlberg, died around 1905. After that she was responsible for the livelihood of the rest of the family together with her mother. This meant undertaking work in miserable and unhealthy living conditions at very low wages.
She worked her way up through various labour organisations and by 1928 she was part of the Central Federation of Christian Transport and Factory Workers, where she was responsible as managing director for women’s and youth work.
After the Nazi ban on Christian trade unions, Clara Sahlberg was dismissed in 1933 by the National Socialist (Nazi) rulers and was unemployed for a long time. Although she was monitored by the Gestapo, she helped maintain union ties. During the war she found employment at the employment office in Berlin, where she later became a member of an important ministry without being a member of the NSDAP (Nazi Party). As an opponent of the regime, she helped organise so-called safety certificates to save a large number of those afflicted and persecuted by the Nazi regime. Following the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944, she also helped the Christian union leader and resistance fighter Jakob Kaiser, who had been feverishly sought after by the Gestapo. She provided him with a fake work book and food, endangered herself to the highest degree.
Clara Sahlberg died on 13 April 1977, aged 86, in Fleisbach, near Herborn.
Link to Wikipedia biography (German)