The nurse Dorothea Dinglinger married the Protestant theologian Wulf Thiel (1908–1999) in Berlin in March 1938. They were both members of the Confessional Church and supported Christians of Jewish origin.
In October 1939 Wulf Thiel received a pastorate in Gebersdorf, Brandenburg. After he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, his wife took over a number of his tasks in the parish.
Beginning in 1943, Dorothea Thiel took four escaped Jewish women into her home temporarily. She had three small children at the time.
In February 1945 the village schoolteacher brought another woman to her, allegedly a German war refugee. However, the woman soon revealed her true identity. She was a Jew named Helena Hochberg who had escaped from a death march. Thiel cared for the very weak young woman and let her stay with her even after the end of the war. The villagers did not suspect any deception.
In 1946 the Thiels returned to Berlin, where Wulf Thiel became dean of the Wilmersdorf parish in 1956. Dorothea Thiel had two more children and continued her life as a homemaker and pastor’s wife.