Johanna Krampen was the daughter of Simon Simon, a tradesman, and his wife Henriette, née Bohn.

Johanna was the second of the three daughters of the Simons. Her sisters were named Lina and Emma. The family lived for a long time in the house at Leopoldstr. 61, which father Simon purchased around 1900. After the death of the father in 1906, the house became the property of the mother, who continued to live there until December 1932.

Shortly after the end of the First World War – on 13 November 1918 – a new lodger moved into Leopoldstr. 61: a Protestant tradesman by the name of Wilhelm Krampen (born 9 October 1874 in Hinsbeck). Wilhelm Krampen is also described in the address directories as a sales representative, an agent for tobacco goods, and owner of the firm of Wilhelm Krampen & Co.; this firm was a cigarette agency business.
On 12 December 1919, Wilhelm Krampen and Johanna Simon were married by civil ceremony in Dortmund. They each retained their original religious affiliation. As far as is known, no children issued from the marriage.

In 1921, the Krampens moved out of Leopoldstr. 61 and went to live at Nordstr. 44, where they stayed until 1926. Their last residential address was Dresdener Strasse 61, where the couple lived from 1928.
By having a non-Jewish husband, Johanna Krampen was initially protected from the worst of the persecution under the Nazis as she was living in a so-called “privileged mixed marriage”.

Wilhelm Krampen died of pneumonia on 30 August 1941 in Johannes Hospital. With the death of her husband, Johanna also lost the protection of the “privileged mixed marriage”.

In March 1943, Johanna Krampen was deported from Dortmund to Auschwitz and murdered there, most probably immediately after her arrival.