Johanna Salomon was the sister-in-law of Moritz Herzberg He was the owner of the house at Wittbräucker Str. 4, where he carried on a retail business selling manufactures and fashion articles, in which Johanna Salomon worked as a sales assistant. Moritz Herzberg died in 1932, and his wife continued to run the business.
After being forced to give up the shop by the Nazis, Johanna Salomon, accompanied by her sister, her nephew and a further employee, Paula Cahn, went to live at Kronprinzenstr. 13 in Essen.

In May 1941, the Gestapo initiated proceedings against Johanna Salomon for harming the interests of the people and the state (“Volks- und Staatsfeindlichkeit”) on grounds of allegedly having failed to declare assets worth 20,000 Reichsmarks. The case was then discontinued, the file bearing the notation: “Rendered void through deportation”.

On 27 October 1941, Johanna Salomon was deported on a transport from Düsseldorf to the Litzmannstadt ghetto. Also there, a monthly pension of 300 RM was transferred to her through the Dusseldorf office of the Baseler Lebensversicherung life insurance. In the Lodz ghetto, Johanna Salomon continued to have close contact to Paula Cahn, who had also been deported there. The two women were transported on 7 May 1942 to Kulmhof (Chełmno) extermination camp, where they were murdered on 8 May 1942.