Thea Lindauer: Abstract | Full Story | Images and Artifacts

Thea K. Lindauer was born in Eisenburg, Germany on July 17th, 1922. Daughter of a prominent Jewish merchant, she lived with him, her mother and sister in a town of around 6,000. Ms. Lindauer enjoyed a comfortable upbringing in her middle-class family. Yet her father remained wary of the new leadership in German politics.

In 1934, her Father went to a local meeting. There he learned of a program to send children to the United States and England. They would live with foster parents, be integrated into American or English society and receive a superb education. The program was known as “Kindertransport”. It was said to be an “experiment in education”. By 1938, over 10,000 children had been sent to live in England. In 1934, her father proposed the idea of sending Thea, now age twelve, to live in the United States. Another idea was to send Thea to live with her uncle and his family in Amsterdam. Though she never went, it was later learned that her uncle and his family were killed in an attack.

In order to be accepted into the “kindertransport” program, a student had to be used to staying away from home for long periods of time. Thea had previously been to boarding school in Switzerland. A student also had to maintain excellent grades. Thea could do this well. With both criterion met, she boarded a ship and sailed to the United States.

Upon her arrival, she was sent to live in New Trier, Illinois. Ironically, her father was born in Trier, Germany. Throughout the years of 1934 to 1937, Thea kept in constant postal contact with her family in Germany. In 1937, before the height of Nazi racial aggression, her Mother, Father and Sister moved to the United States. They settled in an area just outside of Chicago. Despite their move, Thea still lived with her foster parents. Many times she visited her family. While in the U.S., she had to not only learn English, but attend an American school, The University of Chicago primary school. She should have gone into the seventh grade. Due to the language barrier, and her recent immigration, she was placed in the fourth grade. In her opinion, learning the correct way to speak English was the most difficult adjustment. Despite any troubles, Thea felt well blessed. She was living in a new home, and could attend high school free of charge. In Europe, public school ended at the elementary age, and high school cost money. Throughout her life in the U.S. Thea felt a tension. It seemed as though her life was getting better, while her family’s life grew more and more troubled.

Since the time her father took her to see operas in Germany, Thea had been interested in the arts. After graduating from high school in 1940, she went to an Arts School. Her focus was on becoming a commercial artist. During World War II, she worked for the Navy in graphic advertising. She met a B-17 bomber pilot, with whom she became engaged. He would later be killed in a mission over Germany. Thea recalled the realities of life at home during World War II. Food rationing and low supplies were commonplace.

After the war, she met her husband, Harry Lindauer. He had also been a refugee from Germany. There, he was a well respected man, even earning the highest civilian medal. He did so by discovering the location of Konrad Adenauer, a rival political leader to the Nazis. Adenauer would later become Chancellor of West Germany. Harry later immigrated to the United States. In order to join the U.S. army, he had to earn citizenship. At that time, he was declared an “Enemy Alien”, and had extra restrictions. In front of a judge, he was waived of the restrictions and given a United States citizenship. He soon became an interpreter on General Patton’s Staff. He earned many medals, and was often asked to interrogate high-ranking enemy generals. Never forgetting their ties, the couple would return to Germany each year after 1958 as “Guests of the German Government”. Harry Lindauer passed away in 2007.

For her husband’s family, the war was not without its hardships. One of Harry’s uncles, a Jewish man and pianist, was sent to Theresienstadt. This was a considered by the Nazi’s to be the “model” concentration camp. Yet he did not perish there. Every so often, the Nazis would put him in fine clothes, and make him play piano. It was his skill on the piano that kept him from being killed.

Thea has written a book about the letters between her and her father. It is titled “There Must Be an Ocean Between Us.” Another book is currently being written about her husband. She has told her story so that her grandchildren may know.

Thea Lindauer: Abstract | Full Story | Images and Artifacts