The oldest of five children, Johanna was born to Jewish parents living in a small town near Cologne. Her father owned a cigar factory. After Johanna graduated from high school, she worked in a bank in Cologne. At 22 she married Carl Heumann and the couple settled in the village of Hellenthal near the Belgian border. There they owned a general store. The couple had two daughters, Margot and Lore.

1933-39: A year ago our family moved to nearby Bielefeld, and I enrolled Margot and Lore in the city's public schools. Today, they've been expelled from their classes, and not understanding why, they've come home crying. How can I explain the Nazis' anti-Jewish measures to children who are 7 and 10 years old? Now I'll enroll them in a Jewish school where they'll have teachers who, like them, have been kicked out of the German schools.