Gertrud Schickl was born in Frankfurt/Main on 25 October 1918. She grew up in her native city. Her father, the traveling salesman Robert Schickl, came from Brüx (today Most in the Czech Republic). Her mother Emma Schickl, nee Binder, came from Karlsruhe. Robert and Emma Schickl married shortly before Gertrud's birth in Frankfurt/Main on 16 October 1918. The family lived in Wittelsbacher Allee 100.

Gertrud attended a Frankfurt elementary school, then the "Brüder-Grimm-Schule" from 1929 to 1933. According to Emma Schickl's later statesments Gertrud had to leave this school after the 8th grade, because she was terrorized by other students. She started a training as a modiste in the hat salon Gutmann. When the Jewish entrepreneur Gutmann had to give up his business under the pressure of the National Socialist regime, Gertrud had to drop her apprenticeship.

At the age of 17, Gertrud was entrusted to the care of "Heim Isenburg" on 14 June 1936. She stayed there until 23 December 1936. Then she returned to Frankfurt. In March 1937 the family emigrated to Prague. Without a completion of school and professional training Gertrud could only work there as a maid. During a visit to Bratislava she met Hugo Gross. Gertrud and Hugo married and moved to Sillein (Zilina/Slovakia).

On 3 July 1942, Gertrud Gross was deported to the concentration- an extermination camp Auschwitz, where her trace is lost. Gertrud's parents survived the Soah.

Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Hessian State Archives; Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 (Bundesarchiv - National Archive)