Jump to content

Charles Thau

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles "Charlie" Thau
Lt. Thau (center) meeting US forces, 25 April 1945
Born(1921-07-07)July 7, 1921
Zabłotów, Poland (now Ukraine)
Died(1995-04-02)April 2, 1995
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
AllegianceSoviet Union Soviet Union
BranchRed Army
Years of service1943–1945
RankLieutenant
Unit58th Guards Rifle Division
Battles / wars
Other workJewish partisan; Bricha operative; U.S. business owner

Charles "Charlie" Thau (born Chaim Thau; 7 July 1921 – 2 April 1995) was a Polish-born Jewish Holocaust survivor, resistance fighter, Red Army translator, and American immigrant. [1] He is best known for appearing in a widely published photograph of the historic meeting between American and Soviet troops at the Elbe River in April 1945, near the end of World War II.[2][3][4]

Born in Zabłotów, Poland (now Zabolotiv, Ukraine), Thau escaped Nazi persecution in 1941 and survived by hiding as a Jewish partisan for almost two years. He then served as a translator in the Red Army and was present at the Elbe link-up near Torgau, Germany—an encounter that became symbolic of Allied unity and was later commemorated as Elbe Day.[5] [6]

After the war, Thau served as a Bricha operative in postwar Austria, organizing the clandestine movement of Jewish survivors from displaced person camps toward Palestine via the Bricha network. Eventually Thau immigrated to the United States where he ran two automotive businesses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thau's wartime experiences were recognized in journalistic accounts and commemorative events in the United States and Germany.[3] [7]

Early life and Education

[edit]

Thau was born in the shtetl of Zabłotów in eastern Poland in 1921 and was raised in an agrarian Jewish family. His mother taught Yiddish, German, and Polish from their family farm. He also had two younger brothers.[8]

In September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact,[9] resulting in the partition of Poland during the onset of World War 2. Zabłotów then fell under Soviet control.

Source: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

During the Soviet occupation (1939–1941), local schools began teaching in Russian, expanding Thau's language proficiency to include Russian in addition to his existing fluency in Polish, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew. [10]

Residents talking with a Red Army soldier, 1939, Attribution:Wikimedia Commons PD-Belarus-US

Many in the region initially believed the Soviet presence would protect Jewish communities from Nazi persecution; however, efforts to integrate eastern Poland into the Soviet Union soon followed.[3][11][12][13][14]

Nazi invasion and persecution

[edit]

In June 1941, Nazi Germany violated the Hitler-Stalin Pact and invaded the Soviet Union, in their military campaign termed Operation Barbarossa.[9] German forces reached Zabłotów by December 1941.[12] The Einsatzgruppen and local collaborators began mass killings of the town's Jewish population. [15] By the end of that year, approximately 1,100 of Zabłotów's estimated 2,700 Jews were executed.[12][16]

Jews transported, 1941–1942 Zabłotów environment. (Attribution:Bundesarchiv,Bild 101I-380-0069-33/Lifta/CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Most of the remaining Jewish residents were deported to extermination camps. According to the only known documented source "Destruction of Our Community," published by two of the Jewish community survivors, except for Thau, only five other Jewish residents of the town are known to have survived the war.[12]

Hiding and partisan activity

[edit]

Thau escaped into the nearby Carpathian forests in the Eastern Front (World War II) , where he remained in hiding for approximately 19 months. He survived by foraging for food like other partisans [17] and occasionally taking shelter in barns. Most of the time, Thau used the features of the terrain to create camouflaged foxholes or dugouts (known in Russian as zemlyankas, землянка), as shallow hidden positions with foliage and earth to survive the harsh winters and to avoid being discovered. [18] [19] During this time, he joined another Jewish survivor— a childhood friend—and eventually formed a small partisan unit near the Romanian border.[18][20]

Thau's partisan activity near Romania border

In accounts by Der Spiegel and The Forward (April 2025), Thau reportedly disguise himself as a Wehrmacht officer on an occasion, allowing unquestioned entry to a nearby city so as to obtain food and medical treatment, thereby leveraging his fluency in German and a procured uniform. [3] [18] [21]

Introduction to Red Army service

[edit]

In mid-1943, when Red Army combatants discovered Thau in the woods, they initially suspected Thau of being a Nazi collaborator—possibly a Wehrmacht deserter—due to his fluent German. [22] [23] After hearing how fluent Thau was in spoken Russian as well, they eventually integrated him into their ranks as a translator.[3] [24] [25]

Later Thau rose to the rank of lieutenant, commanded an anti‑tank battery, and was assigned to the 58th Guards Rifle Division of the 1st Ukrainian Front. [26] [27] This was the first Red Army unit that encountered the Western Allies, specifically the 69th Infantry Division (United States), at the Elbe River on 24 April 1945.[4]

[edit]

On 24 April 1945, Thau's unit (58th Guards Rifle Division) encountered the 69th Infantry Division (United States) at the Elbe River near Torgau Germany.[4][28]

This meeting symbolized the link-up of Eastern and Western Allied forces.[29][30] Thau was photographed during the encounter, positioned in the center and facing the camera.[31] [32]

The film was immediately sent to the Associated Press, and the first of the two snapshots taken appeared on the front page of The New York Times on 25 April 1945.[2][33]

Battle of Berlin

[edit]

Following the Elbe River link-up, Thau's unit (58th Guards Rifle Division) advanced to Berlin and participated in street-to-street combat during the final weeks of the war. [34] He sustained a machine gun wound to his cheek during the fighting, his second combat injury of the war. A bullet slug from that injury remained in his check unknowingly for over five years, until it was surgically removed in Milwaukee in 1952. [2] [3] [35]

Post War Activities

[edit]

After the war, Thau returned briefly to Zabłotów, but upon learning his immediate family had perished, he did not remain. [36] So his post war activities initially included roles as a Bricha operative, and later to begin a new life as an United States immigrant, to raise a family and become a business owner.[7] [37][38]

Bricha Operative

[edit]

Thau relocated to Salzburg Austria where he worked as an automobile mechanic, with the majority of his time dedicated to participating in the underground Bricha refugee smuggling network. [39] Bricha was an underground network that helped Holocaust survivors and other displaced refugees emigrate from Central and Eastern Europe to British-controlled Palestine (pre-state Israel).[40] Thau assisted in their covert travel across the Alps and into Mandatory Palestine.[41]

Camp Saalfelden Bricha Unit, Thau top row, 3rd from right, circa 1947. (CC BY 4.0 by Dr. Miri Nehari, Director, Ha Bricha Association.)
8 Bricha members (Thau on car furthest right)

From Camp Saalfelden near Salzburg, they facilitated the transport, the illegal crossing of borders, the false papers laboratories, and even cross country hiking with the refugees across the Alps, [42] and eventually by ferry to bypass the British-controlled areas for entry into Mandatory Palestine.[43]

Immigration to the United States

[edit]

Following these experiences, Thau sought out immigration to the United States.[44] The process Thau followed required the assistance from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee at Camp Saalfelden near Salzburg, with the sponsor for Thau's immigration to the United States (specifically to Sheboygan, Wisconsin) identified as David Rabinowitz.[45]

Thau arrived in New York on 7 September 1951 aboard the USS General M. B. Stewart, then headed to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and later settling in Milwaukee Wisconsin.

Thau at his Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States auto garage in 1985. (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, by Thau Family Album)

He adopted the name Charles Thau, became an auto mechanic, and later owned multiple automotive garages in Milwaukee. During a routine dental x-ray in 1952 Milwaukee, a fragment from the 1945 Berlin machine gun injury was discovered still lodged in his jaw--which he retained as a personal memento. Thau married Ida (née Faich) and had three children, Martin, Jeffrey and Esther.[37][46]

Later recognition

[edit]

In 1955, Thau shared his wartime experiences—including the Elbe River link-up and his combat injury—in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal.[47]

Though he rarely spoke publicly about his wartime service, broader recognition of the Elbe Day event in which Thau played a role grew in later decades, particularly during official U.S.–Russian commemorations. Post–Cold War anniversaries were marked by joint statements from national leaders, including a 2005 declaration by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin that reaffirmed Elbe Day as a symbol of wartime cooperation.[48]

Additional acknowledgments by leaders such as Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to renewed public interest in the event and its participants.[49][50][51] The image was the basis for one of the bas-relief sculptures that are built into the National WWII Memorial in Washington D.C.[38]

In recent decades, commemorative events in Germany have directly honored Charles Thau's individual role in the Elbe Day meeting. His youngest son, Col. Jeffrey Thau (USAF, Ret.), has participated in several of these ceremonies at the Elbe River near Torgau, Germany.[52]

Charles Thau died in 1995, within days of the 50th anniversary of Elbe Day.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 6.
  2. ^ a b c Wilms, Carolin (22 April 2015). "Handschlag für die Ewigkeit" [Handshake for Eternity] (PDF). Freie Presse (in German). Freie Presse. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Heinz, Joachim; Harmann, Markus (25 April 2025). "Handschlag von Torgau: Sieben Soldaten und ein Bild für die Ewigkeit" [Seven Soldiers and an Image for Eternity]. Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "The Faces of WW2 – Meet the Extraordinary People in 11 of the War's Most Famous Photographs". Military History Now. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2025. Scroll down to "Hands Across the Elbe", 1st paragraph, 5th line
  5. ^ Wilms 2015b, para. 6.
  6. ^ "Yad Vashem Collections: Chaim Thau".
  7. ^ a b Haynie 2025, para. 24.
  8. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193, para. 21.
  9. ^ a b Brecher, Michael; Wilkenfeld, Jonathan (1997). A Study of Crisis. University of Michigan Press. p. 255. ISBN 0-472-10806-9.
  10. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 6.
  11. ^ Pinchuk, Ben-Cion (1978). "Jewish Refugees in Soviet Poland 1939–1941". Jewish Social Studies. 40 (2): 141–158. JSTOR 4467001. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  12. ^ a b c d "The Destruction of our Community: As told by the survivors Tzvi Eizenkraft and Tzvi Freid". Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Poland, Belarus & Ukraine Report: September 9, 1999". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  14. ^ "Soviet Occupation". Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  15. ^ "Einsatzgruppen, 4th paragraph, last line". 22 January 2025. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Yadvashem Survivors and Refugee Forms_ Chaim Thau ID 11670697".
  17. ^ Allan Levine (13 July 2010). Fugitives of the Forest: The Heroic Story Of Jewish Resistance And Survival During The Second World War. Lyons Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4617-5005-5.
  18. ^ a b c Haynie 2025, para. 8.
  19. ^ "Yad Vashem Collections_ Chaim Thau".
  20. ^ "Living and Surviving as a Partisan". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  21. ^ Levine, Allan (13 July 2010). Fugitives of the Forest: The Heroic Story Of Jewish Resistance And Survival During The Second World War. Lyons Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4617-5005-5.
  22. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 9.
  23. ^ "America's "Aprils of the Fives" and the End of World War II in Europe page 4 bottom, page 5 top". May 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2025
  24. ^ Wilms 2015b, para. 4.
  25. ^ Bronstein, Shalom. "Biographical Dictionary of Jewish Resistance". JewishGen. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  26. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193, para. 8.
  27. ^ Marek Jan Chodakiewicz (21 April 2006). "Review of Sowjetische Partisanen in Weißrußland by Bogdan Musial". Sarmatian Review, Vol. XXVI, No. 2. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  28. ^ MacDonald, Charles B. (1973). The Last Offensive: United States Army in World War II – The European Theater of Operations. U.S. Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  29. ^ Wilms 2015b, 10.
  30. ^ Wilms 2015b, 20.
  31. ^ ""Handshake at the Elbe: A Fake Photo Circles the World"" (Podcast). Cologne, Germany: WDR5. 25 April 2025. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  32. ^ Wilms 2015b, 4.
  33. ^ Thomas, David A. (2025). "Elbe Day: The Historic Handshake Between the Red Army and U.S. Forces in Defeated Germany". WWII Photo Archive. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  34. ^ Forest Pogueur (1990). "Chapter 22". The Decision to Halt at the Elbe. Center of Military History, US Army. p. 1.
  35. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193, para. 18.
  36. ^ Wilms 2015b, 21.
  37. ^ a b Wilms 2015b, 22.
  38. ^ a b Wilms 2015b, 23.
  39. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 21.
  40. ^ Nehari, Dr. Miri (24 April 2015). ""The Association"". Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  41. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 3.
  42. ^ Nehari, Dr. Miri (24 April 2015). ""The Bricha Home – Post-War Exodus to Israel"". Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  43. ^ Dr Miri Nahari. "Habricha". p. 1.
  44. ^ Haynie 2025, para. 4.
  45. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193, para. 31.
  46. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193, para.31.
  47. ^ Milwaukee Journal 1955, p. 193.
  48. ^ "President Welcomes Presidents of the Russian Federation". White House Archives. Office of the Press Secretary. 25 April 2005. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  49. ^ Friedman, Thomas L. (9 May 1995). "Clinton and Yeltsin Honor Dead in Berlin". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  50. ^ "Joint Statement by President Obama and President Medvedev on the 65th Anniversary of the End of World War II". White House Archives. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  51. ^ Gorbachev, Mikhail (1996). Memoirs. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385480192.
  52. ^ Wilms 2015b, 6.

Bibliography

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Thau&oldid=1302635721"