Margot Jeremias (nee Gunther) was born in Heidelberg, Germany on February 10, 1926.  She grew up in a small village near Heidelberg named Hoffenheim, where her parents owned a dry-goods business.   After Hitler and the Nazis came to power, Margot began to experience discrimination; the other children bullied her and soon she was no longer allowed to attend German schools.   In 1938, her sister, Inge (aged 17) moved to the United States but Margot and her family stayed in Hoffenheim.