Helen Linderman (1886 - 1965)

Born 1 Mar 1886 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Nestor Charles Victor Docteur — married 14 Sep 1920 in Saint-Gilles, Brussels, Belgium

Died 20 May 1965 at age 79 in Liège, Belgium

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Biography

Helen was a Nurse.

Helen was the last child born to Dr. Garrett Brodhead Linderman and his second wife Francis Armenia Evans, who was 30 years his junior. Helen was born in 1886, 5 months after the death of her father.

After spending her childhood in New York with her mother, Helen enrolled in the Presbyterian Hospital Training School for Nurses in New York, graduating in 1910. In 1913 she was appointed superintendent at Southampton Hospital on Long Island, New York.

When WWI broke out she was one of the volunteer nurses on the first American Red Cross ship ("SS Red Cross", also known as the "Mercy Ship") to carry American doctors and nurses to Europe. She was with the Helen Hays' group of nurses and doctors that after landing in England, made their way to the Red Cross hospital in Kiev, Russia, traveling via Scotland, Sweden, and Finland. While in Kiev, the American doctors and nurses had the opportunity (by imperial decree) to meet Czar Nicholas, traveling by sleigh to the train station where the meeting took place.

For her service in Russia, she was recommended to receive the Russian Silver Cross of Saint Anne, although given the turmoil in Russia at this time, it's not clear if she actually received it.

The American nurses, after months tending to injured Russian soldiers, returned to the United States the following year (1915) when their tour ended. Helen returned to Southampton Hospital.

In 1917 she volunteered again, this time traveling to France with an American Girls Aid group headed by Dr. Moody to set up an ambulance (the term for a field hospital). By the end of the year, Dr. Moody's group joined the Belgian Ocean Hospital at De Panne. This was a front-line hospital organized by Dr. DePage. Helen arrived at the hospital in December 1917. In a letter home, an American pilot, Lt. William “Billy” Shauffler, says "Somehow it [a letter] slipped by me, for I sent it along to Helen Linderman to see, and it has just come back. She is at Hospital Ocean in Belgium, and is going through a lot of hard, but interesting times." In March 1918, Dr. Georges Debaisieux transferred from Hospital Ocean in De Panne to take over the military hospital in Calais Virval. He reported that bringing it up to standard was difficult, but “fortunately I had brought with me Doctor VH and some very devoted nurses who worked like slaves.” Helen was either among this group, or soon joined them, as a June letter from Dr. Debaisieux states that Helen was directing a pavillion (a hospital ward) of wounded at Calais Virval. For her service during the war, she was presented the Elisabeth medal by Belgium.

While at the Belgian hospitals, she met her future husband, Nestor Docteur, a Belgian from the Liège area. The war having ended, in early 1919 she sailed to America, but returned to Belgium in 1920. Her and Nestor were married in Brussels later that year. Nestor was a successful investor, and he and Helen moved into his home, the Château de Voroux-lez-Liers near Liège. While there, she became close friends with the Browning family from Utah who were in Liège to look after the manufacturing for Browning Arms at Fabrique Nationale d’Herstal near Liège. To the Browning children, she was fondly known as Aunt Helen.

Some time in the late 1930's or early 1940, Helen and Nestor moved to Brussels. On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium, occupying Liège on the 12th, and Brussels on the 17th of that month. In September that year, Helen's husband Nestor died in Brussels. At this time in the war, and for the year and a half until America joined the war, America was a neutral country, so American citizens like Helen were not considered enemy aliens. Helen could have returned to America, but she chose to stay in occupied Belgium, moving into an apartment in Liège.

In December, 1941, America entered the war. Americans in Nazi territory were required to register with authorities, the men being sent to internment camps. It's unclear if Helen registered. By 1942, despite being a widow well into her 50's, Helen joined the Belgian Resistance. She was part of a small group in Liège that were one of the initial links in a chain called Réseau Comète (the Comet Line). This group helped downed Allied airmen travel through occupied Belgium and France, then through Spain to British Gibralter. Helen, being an American, served as an interpreter, and also questioned the airmen to ensure they weren't German spies trying to infiltrate the escape network, since she would be able to detect hints of German accents in their English. She also provided aid to he airmen such as civilian clothing and English language books to occupy their time while waiting to move. As time wore on, the Germans became more successful in breaking up the early resistance networks. Many of the people Helen had worked with were arrested and executed. In 1943 Helen was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned. The time in prison and concentration camps were difficult. Food was scarce. Helen later said that she became so thin from lack of food, that she gave anatomy lessons to her fellow prisoners as the organs of the body were easily pointed out in their emaciated bodies.

Helen survived the war. She returned to the United States for a time in 1946 to visit her many friends and relatives. She returned to Belgium where she spent her final years. She passed away in 1965, and is buried near Liege with her husband and sister.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.; General Records of the Department of State; Record Group: RG59-Entry 5166; Box Number: 22; Box Description: 1965 DA - FT

• cometeline.org contributors. "Allied airmen passed by Comète via the Pyrenees". "[1]." Account of Joseph Thomas Pack's escape.
• Hay, Helen Scott. Meeting the Czar of All the Russias. The American Red Cross Magazine, Vol 10 Num 5, May 1915, pg 185. Online[2]
• Johnson, Katherine Burger, "Called to serve : American nurses go to war, 1914-1918." (1993). UofL Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 701. [3]
• De Launoy, Jane. Infirmieres de Guerre, En Service Commande (Front de 1914 a 1918). Arquennes, Belgium: MeMograMes, 2015. "Samedi premier decembre. Arrivee d'equipes americaines bonnets de toutes les formes. Miss Linderman, Mistress Snowden, Miss d'Anterroches Bonner ... et Miss Craig [Saturday first of December. Arrival of American teams in hats of all shapes. Miss Linderman, Mistress Snowden, Miss d'Anterroches Bonner...and Miss Craig]"
• Mellor, Gordon. Audio interview[4] "One of [the visitors] turned out to be a courier. I'm not quite sure what her duties involved, but she had most strong American accent which I noticed immediately. And I thought hoh-hoh why are you still here? Anyhow, apparently she had been over in Belgium in 1918 and on after the first world war and had married a Belgian. And her name was Helen Docteur. Her accent of French was absolutely appalling. I don't know how she got away with it. She sort of asked us about ourselves. And again I think they were checking up."
• Mellor, Gordon. ETA: A Bomber Command Navigator Shot Down and on the Run. Germany: Fighting High Publishing, 2016.
• van Lieshout, Jan. "Het Hannibal Spiel". Van Holkema & Warendorf
• "American Nurses Decorated for Valor". The Red Cross Bulletin, January 6, 1919, Vol. III No. 2, pg 8. "The Red Cross Commission to Kiev Russia, was recommended by the Russian Government to receive the Cross of Saint Anne for services in 1915. The supervising nurses...were to receive a Gold Cross, and the following nurses of the Commision to receive the Silver Cross: ...Helen Linderman, South Bethlehem, Pa...."
• "Saint-Léonard Prison Register". 1943. Helene Docteur in register as prisoner number 3024 at the Saint-Léonard Prison in Liège.
• “Personal Mention.” Southampton Press, November 13, 1913. Pg 5. "Miss Helen Linderman of New York today succeeded Miss Odell as superintendent of the Southampton Hospital."
• "Personal Mention". The County Review (Riverhead, NY), April 23 1915. Pg 2. "Miss Helen Linderman , a former superintendent of the Southampton Hospital , spent last week with the Rev. and Mrs. George J. Russell in Southampton. She has recently returned from Russia where she has been engaged in Red Cross work."
• Pittston Gazette, April 11, 1919. Pg 12. "Miss Helen Linderman. of South Bethlehem. who has been acting as Red Cross nurse in Belgium since September. 1917, has been decorated with the Order of Elisabeth by the King and Queen of Belgium for her services in behalf of that country."
• "Girl's War Romance to Have Happy Ending". The Philadelphia Enquirer. June 6, 1920. Pg. 4. Announcement of marriage of Helen Linderman to Nestor Docteur in Belgium.
• "Tells of Life in Nazi Camp". The Courier-News (Bridgewater NJ). April 16, 1947. Pg. 8. "Mrs. Nestor Docteur, an American citizen recently returned from years in Belgium, described a year spent in a Nazi concentration camp and related her experiences as a member of the Belgian resistance movement and of the Belgian underground which made possible the escape of American and British flyers who were shot down by the Germans. Mrs. Docteur denounced the Nazis as the scourge of mankind."
• Browning family members. Personal recollections, 2016-2018, as told to [Hatchett-114|Steve Hatchett] via email. Emails in the possession of Steve Hatchett.
• Moore, Theone. Personal recollection, 2015-2018, as told to [Hatchett-114|Steve Hatchett] via recorded interview. Audio in the possession of Steve Hatchett.