Hilde Schramm, the daughter of Adolf Hitler’s favourite architect, was a child when she had her photograph taken with the Fuhrer.

The image, showing a smiling girl in a pink dress with the author of the Holocaust’s arm on her shoulder, would have overshadowed most lives. But Ms Schramm has refused to be defined by her past.  

For the last 25 years, she has worked to give back to Germany’s Jews a little of what was stolen from them by the Nazis, and last week she was honoured with an award from the Obermayer Foundation, which was set up by an American Jewish philanthropist to recognise those who keep Germany’s Jewish legacy alive.

At a time when governments across Europe are facing criticism for…