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A German couple who saved Jewish families and political dissidents by sneaking them out of the country through a fake English language tutoring service have been honored by Berlin for the first time.

The story of Max and Malwine Schindler and their secret network to smuggle Jews and others out of Nazi Germany appeared to have been lost to time until two years ago when a trove of their letters and photos was discovered in a backyard shed in Australia, The Guardian reported.

On Thursday, Berlin put up a commemorative plaque in the couple’s honor at Pariser Strasse 54 in the Wilmersdorf area, outside their old house.

When Max Schindler was fired from the Neukölln city council after the Nazi banned the Social Democratic Party in 1933, he began putting together a clandestine escape route for those being persecuted by the Nazis.

He knew English so he set up as a cover an English tutoring service, which allowed him to visit different parts of Berlin, where he was instead making contact with Jews and dissidents in their apartments.

After Berlin Jews began to be deported to concentration camps, the Schindlers began to secretly hide families who had not managed to escape Germany in their large apartment.

The exact number of people the Schindlers saved is uncertain. However, at least seven people after the war ended said in testimony that the couple had helped them.

In 1963, Malwine Schindler was honored by the Berlin Senate as an “unsung hero.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)