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Born Chaim Thau on 7 July 1921 in the shtetl of Zabłotów in eastern Poland, he grew up in an agrarian Jewish family. His father, Mordechai, worked as a merchant peddler based at the family farm, while his mother, Esther, taught Yiddish, German, and Polish from their home, which also functioned as a small classroom. He had two younger brothers.^[4]

Archival tax records list the Thau family among the more highly assessed households in Zabłotów, a market town with roughly equal Jewish and Christian populations.^[5] Thau became multilingual in this environment.^[6][7][a]

In September 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact,^[8] which led to the partition of Poland at the outset of World War II. Zabłotów then came under Soviet administration. ^{[5][9][10][11]} Soon afterwards, the Soviets mandated Russian be the language of instruction in local schools. ^[12] As Thau befriended Russian soldiers stationed in Zabłotów during the occupation (1939–1941), he learned Russian through these interactions, expanding his linguistic abilities beyond Polish, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew.^[3][6]

Contemporaneous accounts note that while some residents initially viewed the Soviet presence as protective, full integration of eastern Poland into the Soviet system soon followed. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

In June 1941, Nazi Germany violated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by invading the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.^[8] German and Hungarian forces then occupied Zabłotów in early July 1941.^{[17][5][18] [19][b]}

Persecution of the Jewish population rapidly grew thereafter. In the latter half of 1941, German security forces and local collaborators carried out mass shootings associated with Einsatzgruppen operations in the region.^[17][5] By the end of 1941, approximately 1,100 of Zabłotów's roughly 2,700 Jewish residents had been executed^[5][20]

Most of the remaining Jewish residents were subsequently deported to extermination camps.^[17][5][20] Thau's father, mother, and two younger brothers—Mordechai, Esther, Barrish, and Hershel—did not survive.^[21][20][22]

Following the German invasion in 1941, Thau fled into the Carpathian forests, where he survived for an extended period.

Accounts suggest that he may have come into contact with Soviet partisan elements prior to his conscription into the Red Army on 10 July 1942.^[23][24]

Relatively few Jews escaped into nearby forests or joined partisan formations following mass shootings and deportations in the surrounding region.^[21][20] According to later accounts reported in family recollections and press sources, Thau fled south into wooded areas between Zabłotów and Kolomyia, where he survived in concealment.^[24][25]

Studies of Jewish forest partisans in eastern Galicia describe how they survived winter conditions and avoided detection by German and auxiliary patrols by using concealed dugouts (Zemlyanka). The partisans were also noted to locally forage for food, along with obtaining intermittent assistance from local civilians.^[26][27] Thau’s survival relied upon similar documented patterns as the forest partisans in eastern Galicia.^[24][25]

Thau later linked up with another Jewish survivor, a childhood friend named Moshe, and the two independently operated near the Romanian border.^[25][28] According to reports in Der Spiegel (2025) and The Forward (2025), Thau at times disguised himself as a Wehrmacht officer, using his fluency in German, and a procured Wehrmacht uniform, then would enter nearby towns to obtain food and seek any needed medical treatment.^[24][25] Such use of disguise has been documented among other partisan groups operating under similar conditions, primarily to obtain food, medicine, and other resources.^[29][30]

In mid-1942, Russian partisans discovered Thau hiding in the woods. They initially suspected him of being a Nazi collaborator or Wehrmacht deserter, reflecting broader Red Army suspicion toward civilians emerging from occupied territories. ^[31] His fluency in German further contributed to this suspicion.^[32] After demonstrating proficiency in Russian, he was integrated into their ranks as a translator, where his language skills proved valuable in interrogations and liaison duties.^[33][34][35]

Over the course of his service, Thau advanced through the enlisted ranks. During the Red Army’s westward advance in 1944 and 1945, archival records identify Thau as a Guards Sergeant in the 56th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 58th Guards Rifle Division.^[23][1][c] On 15 January 1945, during the Red Army’s winter offensive operations westward through Poland, Thau was wounded near a position identified in Soviet records as “Height 55.2.”^[d][23]

According to the regimental award citation, after his machine-gun crew was put out of action, Thau took over the weapon and provided suppressive fire against enemy infantry, enabling Soviet forces to continue their advance. For this action, he was awarded the Medal "For Courage" by regimental order dated 20 January 1945. ^[1][e]

During the Red Army’s advance in 1944 and 1945, heavy casualties among junior officers led to experienced enlisted personnel being promoted from the ranks.^[36][37] During this period, Thau was commissioned in the field as a lieutenant and assumed command of an anti-tank battery equipped with 76 mm divisional guns attached to the 58th Guards Rifle Division.^[38]

In April 1945, as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front's westward advance, Thau's division reached the Elbe River and participated in the Allied–Soviet link-up before shifting to final operations against Berlin.^[39] Following the link-up, Thau participated in the Battle of Berlin, where he was wounded again during street-to-street fighting. The injury left a bullet fragment lodged in his cheek, which remained until it was discovered and removed by a dentist in Milwaukee in 1951.^[4][40]

By April 1945, Allied operational plans called for U.S. forces advancing eastward to halt along the Elbe–Mulde line in preparation for contact with advancing Soviet formations.^[41][42] The meeting between elements of the 58th Guards Rifle Division and the U.S. 69th Infantry Division was one of several contacts that established the Allied–Soviet link-up in central Germany.

Thau appears in the widely reproduced photograph of the Allied–Soviet link-up, positioned at the center behind the handshake and looking directly into the camera.^{[33][43][2][41] [f]}

In the image, Thau is depicted wearing a standard Red Army field uniform (gymnastyorka Model 1943) with a sidearm carried in a belt holster.^[44] He is also shown wearing Soviet military decorations, including the Medal "For Courage" and the Medal "For Battle Merit".^[1] High-resolution reproductions of the photo show wound stripes (ranenie stripes) on his right chest, an insignia introduced by Soviet decree in 1942 to denote personnel wounded in combat.^[g][h]

Film from the camera that captured the image was transmitted to the Associated Press, and one photograph appeared on the front page of The New York Times on 25 April 1945.^[45] Legacy research years later of the event led to the correction of a long-standing misidentification of a U.S. soldier in the photograph. ^{[24] [46] [47] [48]}

Upon the conclusion of World War II, Thau returned to Zabłotów to search for his relatives. Finding no survivors among his immediate or extended family, he departed the region and relocated to Salzburg, Austria, within the American occupation zone.^[49] There, he worked as an automobile mechanic while becoming an active operative in the clandestine Bricha network—the underground organized effort that facilitated the transit of Jewish Holocaust survivors out of post-war Europe. ^{[50][51][52][53]}

Bricha operative

Operating from the Salzburg region, including the displaced-persons camp at Saalfelden, Thau was involved in logistical operations supporting the movement of Jewish refugees across postwar Europe despite British immigration restrictions.^[50][53] He assisted in coordinating routes and facilitating border crossings as part of the broader Bricha network.^[53][54]

Bricha operations in Austria were closely connected to the displaced-persons camp system established by Allied authorities, which concentrated large numbers of Jewish survivors in the American occupation zone.^[55][56] Camps in the Salzburg region, including Camp Saalfelden, functioned as staging centers where refugee groups were assembled, transportation arranged, and documentation prepared for movement across Alpine transit corridors into Italy and onward to Mediterranean ports.^[57][58][59]

A contemporary photo collage from the late 1940s identifies Thau within the dedicated Bricha unit at Camp Saalfelden.^[54][50]

Immigration

Recalling what soldiers of the 69th Infantry Division had told him at the Elbe link-up about life in America, Thau sought help from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee at Camp Saalfelden to immigrate to the United States. They assisted him in securing a sponsor, as prospective immigrants were required to have one. Attorney David Rabinowitz of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was identified as his sponsor. ^[60]

Thau arrived in New York on 7 September 1951 aboard the USS General M. B. Stewart, then traveled to Sheboygan and later settled in Milwaukee. ^[61]

After resettling in Milwaukee, Chaim Thau adopted the name Charles Thau and resumed his trade as an auto mechanic, a skill he had practiced in postwar Salzburg. ^[4]

From the early 1950s to the 1990s, Thau owned and operated multiple service stations, eventually expanding to several Phillips 66–branded locations across the city. ^[62]

By 1955, Thau was established as a gas station operator in Milwaukee.^[4][63][i] Independent records from the early 1960s list his business, Thau's 66 Service Station, at 433 South 6th Street.^[64] He later established Thau's Garage at 4229 West Greenfield Avenue and operated another Phillips 66 station on West Capitol Drive.^[65]

Thau used his multilingual abilities in Polish, Russian, Yiddish, German, and English to assist newly arrived immigrants from Europe. His garages served as gathering places for Milwaukee's postwar Jewish and European community, where he helped with translations, employment referrals, and introductions.^[40][66] As Thau owned and operated multiple Phillips 66 service stations across Milwaukee over several decades, he became a well-known local businessman.

Even as his business grew, Thau remained personally involved in daily operations and maintained close ties with his family and community.^[66]

• 
  Thau's Brake & Muffler Shop (Phillips 66), c. 1980s

Thau worked long hours while raising a family. He married Ida (née Faich); they had three children: Martin, Jeffrey, and Esther.^[40]

In 1951, during his first routine dental X-ray in Milwaukee, a slug fragment from his Berlin wound was discovered still lodged in his jaw and was surgically removed, six years after the injury. ^[67]

A family photograph from 1965 (left) shows Thau with his sons socializing in a Milwaukee home, and a photo from 1975 (right) shows him at his daughter's wedding, both taken during the period when he was operating and expanding his Phillips 66 service stations.^[48]

Charles Thau died on 2 April 1995, several weeks before the 50th anniversary of Elbe Day. ^[68]

Most references to Thau center on his appearance in the well-known photograph of the Allied–Soviet link-up at the Elbe River on 25 April 1945.^[3]

Symbolism and diplomatic significance

The Elbe meeting of 25 April 1945 is documented in a staged handshake photograph in which Thau appears. The image has been widely reproduced in published historical accounts of the link-up and referenced in diplomatic commemorations of Elbe Day as a representation of wartime cooperation between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union prior to the onset of Cold War tensions.^[3][69]

U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint declaration citing the Elbe meeting as a symbol of wartime cooperation. Similar references were made during commemorations under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.^{[70][71][72][73]}

Commemoration and public memory

In 1955, Thau discussed his wartime experiences in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal.^[4] Later, the Elbe Day event was honored in a bas-relief sculpture at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., where the link-up is commemorated as a symbol of Allied cooperation.^[74] The city of Torgau has also hosted commemorative events at which the photograph of the link-up has been recognized, attended by diplomatic representatives from Russia, the United States, and Germany.^[75] Following his death, Thau has been represented at Elbe Day anniversary events by his youngest son, retired U.S. Air Force colonel Jeff Thau.^[74]

Elbe photograph and later identification

For many years, one of the American soldiers in the photograph was misidentified in both commemorations and Torgau historiography as Delbert Philpott, including during official 2005 60th-anniversary Elbe Day observances held in Moscow and attended by U.S. and Russian Presidents Bush and Putin.^[76][77][78]

In 2008, following a veteran’s testimony and archival review, the 69th Infantry Division Association finally corrected the identity of the soldier as Technician Fifth Grade Bernard E. Kirschenbaum.^[79][80] Kirschenbaum had actually challenged the Philpott identification in 1995 during a visit to Torgau, prior to the Moscow state dinner which honored the participants. Kirschenbaum also recorded his claim in the 1995 Torgau visitors’ log, but it was not acted upon until 2008.^[24] Subsequent published historical accounts have documented the earlier misidentification and its correction.^{[2] [46] [47] [81] [48] [24]}

• Jewish resistance in German-occupied Europe

• Jewish partisans