After 1933, and even before deadly threats made survival their primary task, Jewish circus families led lives marked by sadness, diminishing professional opportunities, and humiliation. Yet there was one act of solidarity in particular that is worth remembering, if not for its representativeness, then for its extraordinary nature. It is a tale of courage and circumstance, tragically not indicative of the experience of most Jewish circus performers, but nevertheless a story that reflects the special nature of one segment of the circus milieu. In 1948, it is again Gerda Blumenfeld who points out that, during the war, she and her son survived mainly because of the help they received from Maria and Adolf Althoff, the formidable heads of an old and established Gentile circus family from Aachen. Before the Nazis seized power, the Althoff and Blumenfeld families knew and respected each other solely as competitors. After the collapse of his Magdeburg Blumenfeld circus in 1927, however, Alfred Blumenfeld found temporary employment as the technical director and press agent at the Circus Althoff and, as a result, was even able to support and shelter his brothers Willi and Fritz. According to Gerda, the three brothers eventually emigrated to France, where they remained until they were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz in 1942.