Else Gebel was born in Augsburg. She grew up together with her two brothers, Willy and Arno. She had a close relationship with Willy and both of them shared an apartment until 1935. Gebel's mother died when Else was aged 20. The three siblings were critical of Nazism. Until the 1938 November Pogroms, Gebel worked as chief secretary for the Jewish merchant Max Uhlfelder in Munich. Uhlfelder's department store was destroyed during the "Kristallnacht" pogroms, and Uhlfelder himself was arrested and brought to the Dachau concentration camp. Gebel however was able to avoid trouble. Until her own arrest, she worked at the Diamalt company which produced malt extract for bakeries.