Elizabeth Cecilia Gabrielle Weigl (later Deutschhausen, 1902-1994) was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), to Alfred C. and Ida H. Kling (1877-1962) Weigl. Elizabeth often went by the nickname, Elsie, and had one younger brother, Alfred (1906-1969). Elizabeth graduated from the Vienna Art School, where she studied art and theater set and costume design. She also designed lace, clothing, decorative boxes, and greeting cards. In the 1920s, she married Wilhelm Hans Deutschhausen (later William, 1893-1967), who was also born in Vienna. Wilhelm attended a Lutheran school and college before serving in World War I (1914-1918). After the war, he continued his studies, received a doctorate, studied Lutheran theology, and spent two years as a vicar teaching religion at public schools and colleges. In 1929, Wilhelm was ordained as a Lutheran pastor.
When German troops entered Austria on March 12, 1938, they received the enthusiastic support of most of the population, including many members of the Austrian Protestant Church. Austria was incorporated into Germany, referred to as the “Anschluss,” the following day. The Austrian Protestant Church, as a whole, was very supportive of this annexation, believing it might place them on an equal footing with Catholicism, the majority faith in the nation. Many Protestant pastors, church leaders, and members demonstrated their willingness to take advantage of the Nazi regime’s political strength to serve their own interests. This included backing a group known as the Deutsche Christen (German Christians), which supported the creation of a “Reich Church” and a “nazified” version of Christianity. This group emerged within the German Evangelical Church during the 1920s and embraced many of the nationalistic and racial aspects of Nazi ideology.
Many within the German Evangelical Church disagreed with the actions and beliefs espoused by the German Christians and formed an opposition group, the Bekennende Kirche (Confessing Church), in May 1934. This faction declared that the church’s allegiance was to God and scripture, not a political leader. Despite disagreements, both the Confessing Church and the German Christians remained part of the German Evangelical Church, and the resulting tension within German Protestantism throughout the 1930s became known as Kirchenkampf (Church Struggle). The tension caused by the Church Struggle also spilled into Austria, and increased following the “Anschluss.” Pastor Wilhelm Deutschhausen sided with the Confessing Church and opposed the tenets of the “nazified” church, which preferred to exclude all Jewish elements from Christian theology. When authorities said that he should no longer preach from the Old Testament, Wilhelm refused to comply.
In the latter half of 1938, the Gestapo proposed that Wilhelm serve as a spy in Luxembourg, but he refused and was told he could either leave the country within two weeks or be sent to a concentration camp. Wilhelm managed to evade the Gestapo’s threat, and joined the underground. Seven months later, George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, invited Wilhelm to England. Bishop Bell was an international ally of the Confessing Church. He used his position as a church leader to influence public opinion in Britain and Germany. He secured asylum in England for Jews, non-Aryan Christians, and Christian pastors who had crossed German authorities. In 1939, Wilhelm and Elizabeth sailed to England and settled in Birmingham, where Wilhelm organized Austrian and German refugees into congregations. Elizabeth managed their home, while Wilhelm worked with the refugees and spoke about the Church Struggle as a guest lecturer at several universities.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which prompted Great Britain and France to declare war against Germany. Following this declaration, roughly seventy thousand Germans and Austrians residing in the United Kingdom, including Elizabeth and Wilhelm, were classified as enemy aliens. The Home Office required every registered enemy alien to be reviewed by an internment tribunal. The tribunals divided enemy aliens into three categories: ‘A’- to be interned; ‘B’ - to be exempt from internment, but subject to certain restrictions; and ‘C’ - to be exempt from internment and restrictions.
During this time, Elizabeth and Wilhelm were interned at the Kitchener camp, established by the Jewish Refugee Committee in England near Sandwich, Kent. When Kitchener opened on the grounds of a former World War I military camp in January 1939, it housed Jewish male refugees from Germany and Austria. The men were able to come and go as they pleased and were not considered prisoners. There were also some women in the camp during the late spring and summer of 1939. Among those who had arrived there before the war began were Felix (1902-1974) and Margarethe (Grete, 1906-2003) Grunhut Steiner, who became close with Elizabeth and Wilhelm at the camp. Felix and Margarethe were a Jewish couple that had fled from Nazi persecution in Vienna. They had married in March 1939, and fled to England three months later. Felix worked as a camp tailor and Margarethe as a domestic servant. On October 10, 1939, the tribunal exempted Wilhelm and Elizabeth from internment, but they were still subject to restrictions. Felix, had been exempted without restrictions three days earlier, and Margarethe received a similar exemption ten days later. Following the exemptions, Wilhelm and Elizabeth likely returned to their pre-internment activities. In February 1940, the Steiners immigrated to the United States aboard the SS Britannic. Felix and Margarethe settled in Fargo, North Dakota, with the assistance of Herman Stern. Felix worked as a tailor at the Straus Esquire Store. Margarethe had attended the women’s business college in Vienna, so she knew how to establish her own millinery business from their home.
By May 1940, the risk of German forces invading England had increased substantially, and approximately eight thousand German and Austrian aliens, regardless of their previous category, were ordered to internment camps. Wilhelm was interned for a second time on June 21, 1940, and sent to Hutchinson Internment Camp in Douglas on the Isle of Man. Elizabeth may have been interned with him. It is likely that Wilhelm was among the roughly eight thousand German, Austrian, and Italian internees released from the camp later that year. This happened after public opinion shifted in favor of the internees following the sinking of the SS Arandora Star while it was transporting internees to Canada on July 2. By 1942, only five thousand aliens remained in the camps. While in Great Britain, Wilhelm was in contact with a Lutheran pastor of the Missouri Synod in North America, which he later joined. Near the end of the war, the Board of Home Missions of the United Church of Canada requested permission to bring the Deutschhausens to Canada to serve increased numbers of German-speaking immigrants in a local parish.
On March 7, 1945, Wilhelm and Elizabeth set sail from Liverpool for Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the SS Pacific Exporter. They settled in Waldersee, Manitoba, and lived in the parsonage on a modest salary. Wilhelm eventually anglicized his name to William. In 1947, they decided to become Canadian citizens and relocated to the small city of Winkler, Manitoba, where William continued his ministry. In July 1953, Elizabeth’s mother, Ida, brother, Alfred, and his family boarded the SS Beaverbrae in Bremen, Germany, and sailed to Quebec City, Quebec. Ida joined Elizabeth and William, while Alfred, his wife, Johanna (1925-2009), and their young sons settled in Ontario. Alfred worked as an engineer, and the couple had six children. In 1961, Elizabeth, William, and Ida moved to the US and settled in Hankinson, North Dakota, where he served as reverend for the St. John’s parish. The Deutschhausens had remained close with and continued their friendship with Felix and Margarethe Steiner, who still lived in Fargo. William resigned in mid-January 1967, and less than two weeks later, he passed away. Elizabeth remained in Hankinson, and continued to be a community member and attend church services regularly.
