Early Life and Family
Elisabeth von Thadden was from a long-established noble family. Her parents were Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff (1858-1932), administrator of the Kreis of Greifenberg (now in Poland and called Powiat Gryficki), and Ehrengard von Gerlach (1868-1909). She was the eldest of five children. In 1905, the family moved to the Trieglaff estate in Pomerania, where von Thadden grew up in a big family in the Christian-Protestant spirit.
Elisabeth von Thadden's brother, Reinold von Thadden (1891-1976), grew up to be a famous theologian and jurist, and her nephew, Reinold's son Rudolf von Thadden (born 1932) is a well-known German historian. Her half-brother Adolf von Thadden (1921-1996) rose to be the National Democratic Party's chairman after the Second World War in West Germany. Von Thadden herself never married, and has no direct descendants.
Upon her mother's death in 1909, von Thadden took over the running of the family estate, as well as the care of her youngest siblings. Trieglaff was also the scene of conferences organized by von Thadden and her father. These Trieglaffer Konferenzen attracted politicians, theologians, jurists and scientists of many political stripes.
Von Thadden always felt a keen connection with her fellow human beings, and this showed up early on when, during the First World War, she made it possible for many city children to spend time in the somewhat more idyllic setting of Trieglaff.
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