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Young children were routinely separated from their parents and literally shipped to other countries. When these children landed on foreign soil they were not enveloped in the arms of loving relatives. Instead, strangers greeted the bewildered kinder, giving them orders in a language they did not understand. This was how some parents in Hitler鈥檚 extended Germany protected their children. Elisabeth Dixon, of Merritt Island, Florida, was one of these displaced children. That single experience changed everything about her life: where she would live, how she would live, what language she would speak, who her family was; even her name would change. The search for a home would take courage, but Elisabeth was born with a survivor鈥檚 strength.

A Refugee in Her Own Country
Elisabeth has been searching for home and hearth since the day she was born. Her name at birth was Alice Franziska Leopoldine Nichtenhauser and the small family was undecided as to what to call the little baby girl. Her beautiful, intelligent mother called her Lilly. Elisabeth explains, 鈥淭he German nickname for Alice is Litzi, but my mother didn鈥檛 like to work that hard, so she called me Lilly.鈥� Her gentle, preoccupied father liked to dress her in boy鈥檚 clothes and call her Frankie. Other circumstances of her birth were equally dividing. Her mother, Anna, was Catholic. Her father, Alfred, was Jewish. In the United States in the year 2000 this is not remarkable. In Vienna, Austria in 1928 it had the potential to be fatal.

The arrival of five-year old Hans鈥� new sister prompted the family to move from busy Vienna to the country. In Modling, Alfred opened a radio shop, selling a luxury few people could afford during that deep financial depression. Alfred even found funds to contribute to the poor on 鈥淏eggar鈥檚 Day,鈥� the one day of the week when the truly destitute would go from shop to shop, begging for pennies. The businesswoman, Anna, clashed often with softhearted Alfred. The shop was a business, but Alfred could not bring himself to force his neighbors to forego groceries, to make payments for the services he rendered. 鈥淥h, I remember many fights,鈥� states Elisabeth.

Anna and Alfred soon separated. Neither parent had the space or time for the little girl. Anna moved to the next village, opening her own one room shop, which also served as her home. The children stayed with Alfred since his one room home was separate from his shop. During the day one young maid, or another, cared for the two youngsters while Alfred played chess with his cronies and tended his store. Anna already had a new boyfriend, but her maternal instinct would strike at odd times and she would swoop into town, criticize the maids about the care of the home, sometimes stealing her Lilly off into the night. At other times Anna would visit, singing arias in the European way and promising to stay until Lilly feel asleep. Elisabeth remembers struggling to stay awake so that her mother would stay a few minutes longer. The small child was tossed back and forth between her parents. This turmoil eventually led to her stay at a convent.

It was 1938; Anna鈥檚 boyfriend had gone to Germany to obtain employment. The rumors about Hitler鈥檚 Brownshirts stopping Jews and questioning them had already started. Anna wanted to be with her boyfriend, but the children must be protected. Hans was already a practiced street urchin, surviving by his wits. Little Lilly must be cared for, but how? The local convent provided the answer. Since her father was Jewish, she had never been christened. To enter the convent, she had to officially enter the church - with the name of a saint. Since her mother and brother had always called her Lilly, the nuns decided that Elisabeth would be her new name.

The convent was a protected environment and Elisabeth adjusted to this different type of life. The little girl was not aware of the history being created around her. The children in the convent only knew about the political happenings by how it effected their world. Hitler persecuted many groups; Catholic nuns were one of them. The nuns whispered about where they would go and what they would do if the Brownshirts ever came for them. They also started to grow their hair. Elizabeth remembers the children鈥檚 reaction to this development, 鈥淲e thought it was so funny! These nuns had hair that started to show from under their habits. We didn鈥檛 know any better. We didn鈥檛 know what was happening in the world.鈥� Since the nuns were threatened, the children were threatened and people started to take their children home, close to the hearth. Soon only Elisabeth was left in the convent.

Hans, her brother, later told Elisabeth what had happened. Anna and Alfred knew they had to get their children out of Austria. Anna had family and friends in Denmark and Holland; the children could go there. Alfred disagreed, he thought that was too close. The war between Anna and Alfred heated up, as Hitler rolled through one country after another. Finally Alfred put his foot down, the only time he refused his beautiful love anything. The decision was made; the children would take a kindertransport to England. The next job was to get a seat on one of the transports. Everyday Alfred would go wait in line, standing alongside other frightened parents, hoping for the chance to save his children. The first time he won two spots, he gave the precious seats to his two nephews. They were Jewish, looked like stereotypical Jews and, therefore, were in greater danger. Finally the Society of Friends found sponsors and agreed to take Hans and Elisabeth out of Austria. The child in the convent knew nothing of this contract.

鈥淚 remember it was in this courtyard toward the front of the convent. 鈥楬urry鈥� they said, 鈥榶our Mama is here.鈥� My mother and my brother were standing there, Hans hanging back a little. They never visited me together. My mother had brought me a cardboard suitcase and told me to pack my things in it. She didn鈥檛 realize that I had nothing. She told me I was going on a 鈥榞rosse reise,鈥� a large trip.鈥� Elisabeth remembers that moment 鈥渓ike a still.鈥� She does not remember how she got from the convent to the train.
It was evening when Alfred, Hans, and Elisabeth arrived at the train station in Vienna. Ten-year old Elisabeth and fourteen-year old Hans boarded the train with forty or fifty other children; their parents did not climb those metal stairs. As the train pulled out of the station, Elisabeth and Hans leaned out the window, waving good-bye to their father. Neither of them realized that this would be the last time they would see him. He would die in a camp in Minsk, Russia. In telling this story of being a very lonely child, this is the first time Elisabeth has had to reach into her bag to pull out a tissue. She wipes the tears standing in her eyes, obviously still feeling the finality of that separation sixty years ago.

The exhausted child slept through most of the trip, but Elisabeth does remember when the Nazis came aboard the train at the border. 鈥淓verybody was scared to death. They could have taken us off the train, but for some reason they let us go.鈥� Elisabeth also had another reason for fear. When she left Vienna she had worn a tiny ring with a small red stone in it. Hans warned her to hide it since the Nazis would not let any gold leave the country, so they made a small rip in her muff and tucked the ring inside. Imagine how that 鈥渃rime鈥� heightened the Nazi terror for a small child. The Nazis left and the train moved forward.

鈥淪omebody said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e in Holland.鈥� I guess we were all supposed to be happy that we were out of Germany. When the train stopped at a station, there were the Dutch people, with bags of food, waiting for us.鈥� The memory of this kindness causes Elisabeth to wipe her eyes again. 鈥淚t was the first time I had had white bread, it was like cake. We hadn鈥檛 eaten since we left Vienna and they had bread, wonderful cheese and milk for us. My daughter-in-law is Dutch and every time I see her I think of those people.鈥� The train trip from Vienna to Holland was only part of the trip.

Maybe England Would Be Home

The next part of this journey also occurred at night. The children on the train were told to run through the darkness onto the boat. Elisabeth ran with the rest of the children, but does not remember seeing a boat. The next thing her child鈥檚 memory can recall is landing in Harwitch, England and getting on the train to London. It was February 1939 and London was not yet under attack. Upon arrival in London, children were taken off to different homes, but not Hans and Elisabeth. The two wanted to stay together and a sponsor willing to take two children had been found in Halifax. These two children had a little further to go. While in London, Hans encouraged Elisabeth to try a few words of English. She approached a gentleman at the station and piped, 鈥淧lease sir, is this Londontown?鈥� Elisabeth scoffs at herself; 鈥淐an you imagine? Londontown?鈥� The kindly man looked down at the blue eyes in the small face and replied, 鈥淵es dear, you鈥檙e in London.鈥�

One of the children鈥檚 sponsors, we'll call "Mary", met the children at the train station in Leeds, England. Elisabeth remembers her as old; gray curly hair atop a gray suit and little heels on her shoes. In fact Elisabeth had never met anyone that old. Mary and her husband, John, had been encouraged by their son Jack to take in the evacuee children. Elisabeth and Hans were told later how Jack had pled, wheedled, and bargained everything he could to get these children to Halifax. He had felt that it was important for people in more secure countries to help these refugee children. Mary and John had agreed since this whole German mess would blow over in six months. It did not make for a happy family situation when it became evident that the children would be staying longer, much longer. This English family had secrets they wanted to keep.

In England, in 1939, a man could be imprisoned for being a homosexual. This was Jack鈥檚 secret. Hans learned of this secret because he shared a room and a double bed with Jack. Every night Jack asked Hans to tie him up, so that Hans would be safe from any inadvertent attacks. Elisabeth had her own problems with John's unwanted attentions. These two children were isolated from the help society could have offered by their inability to speak English. As Elisabeth explains, 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have the words to explain what was happening to us. Even if someone had been able to understand German, we wouldn鈥檛 have been able to explain it鈥� They survived these atrocities with therapeutic walks down Elland Road where the siblings could get away from the pressures in the home and draw new strength from each other. They usually came back from these walks laughing and singing.

Soon after their arrival Hans and Elisabeth found a swimming pool in town. She remembers how the townspeople pointed and stared at their tanned, athletic bodies. Halifax labeled the two Austrians as foreigners. It was a label that stuck the entire ten years the children lived in England. The pretty town had an ugly underbelly.

There were kind people in the town also. When Germany started bombing England, the town鈥檚 children were required to be at school everyday, even during summer vacation. This was to keep the children in a confined area, where they could be herded into shelters at a moment鈥檚 notice. The children were not required to study and the teachers were not required to teach. Miss Wignall was a spinster, as were all the teachers. This woman volunteered her skills during this time to teach Elisabeth enough English to get by. The lack of English helped her to excel in school. When she copied from the board, she did it letter by letter since she could not yet put the words together. This careful attention earned her praise from her teacher. Another family took her to a resort at Bournemouth for two weeks. Away from her protective brother, Elisabeth had to speak English. When she returned home, Hans claims she spoke perfect English. He is probably remembering the improvement in her skills since Elisabeth remembers other incidents where she mispronounced words.

Raised in what she calls 鈥渢he European tradition,鈥� Elisabeth ran, swam, played field hockey and generally stayed physically active. These beloved activities were taken away when her throat swelled closed. Diagnosed with diphtheria, complicated by scarlet fever, Elisabeth was in a coma for two weeks. Recovery from diphtheria meant she was forced to lay flat on her back for two months. The illness probably caused the heart murmur she lives with today. When it was time for her to go home, she was not welcomed. The family had an irrational fear that the isolation hospital might send her home, still ill and contagious. She was further punished for her illness and heart murmur when, during exercise periods, she was restricted to watching her friends run and play from a cot on the hockey field. While she lay on the cot her schoolmates would bring comic books for her to read. Elisabeth pronounced each letter she read, just as she would have done in German and her interpretation of the English language sent everyone into gales of laughter.

In entertaining her fellow students, she found her best friend in Pat North. It was to Pat鈥檚 home that she escaped, when she finally had enough. She was no longer wanted in her English home so poor food and abuse were a way of life. Elisabeth dropped out of school before beginning her senior year and found a job. Princess Mary High School was an exclusive all-girls鈥� school and Elisabeth had been attending on scholarship. The school鈥檚 headmistress searched her out and offered a home at the North鈥檚 if Elisabeth would just return to school for her final year. When Elisabeth overheard a conversation about 鈥渢he stipend,鈥� she realized that her English family had been receiving money to feed the two refugee children. Now the poor food that had been fed to the young children for the past five years seemed crueler still. As World War II ended in 1945, Elisabeth, now seventeen years old, graduated from Princess Mary High School. A scholarship to Darlington Teacher Training was offered and she finally seemed to have a home and a future. Despite her desire to teach, other events would derail her plans.

Hans came to Elisabeth. He had been offered a wonderful job, but it was in Germany. He did not want to leave the baby sister he had tried to protect for so many years, but she had the wisdom to urge him toward his own life. He became a translator at the Nuremberg Trials. While in Germany he found their mother in a refugee camp. He also found a bride.

Home At Last

When Hans finished his job in Nuremberg, he and his wife decided to emigrate to the United States where her family had settled. Hans planned to send for Elisabeth just as soon as he could find the necessary sponsor. While Hans and Elisabeth knew where their mother was, they had little desire to continue the roller-coaster relationship they had with her, so they kept their distance, physically and emotionally. Hans was able to send for Elisabeth, finding a sponsor for her in a hotel owner in the Catskill Mountains.

Elisabeth came to New York when she was just twenty-one years old. The remarkable story of Elisabeth does not end here but she had finally found her home. In Hitler鈥檚 Austria she had been a Jew, someone less than human. In England she had not fit into English society because she was stateless. At the end of World War II, America had gathered starving, beaten refugees from all over Europe. American soldiers were coming home with brides from every imaginable country. She still remembers her feelings from her first day in this country of refugees. 鈥淔or the first time I felt that here I鈥檓 not a foreigner.鈥�

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