Erika Dorsch was the wife of Willi Dorsch, an analyst at Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in Berlin. Both were Aryan citizens of the Greater German Reich. They frequently played bridge with their friends and neighbours, the Gimpels. Unknown to both Willi and Erika, Heinrich and Lise Gimpel were Jews living in secret in the heart of the Reich. She had an elder sister named Leonore and a niece. Erika retracted her accusation. Although Heinrich and Willi remained friends, Erika was no longer welcome in the Gimpel home. The Dorsches' marriage remained strained.