Harold Thiel was born on 19 Oct 1931 at 2574 Wallace Ave., Bronx, NY to Gerald and Elsie (Shell) Thiel, both born about 1906 in Germany. Harold grew up thinking he was adopted but upon retirement he learned differently. He had to send for his original birth certificate and it was on this document that he learned he had a sister about a year older. A search of the birth index in NYC produced only one possible child with the surname Thiel: Erika Thiel born 22 June 1930 in Manhattan At the age of six months Harold was left with a babysitter (in NYC) and his parents seemingly disappeared and he was raised by this family. At the age of fourteen he became ill and this family had to get a legal name change for him. It was in these papers that Harold learned the story of his beginnings or their version of it anyway. When he was left in the care of this family, they were paid the sum of $14.00 for two weeks babysitting (this suggests to me that they planned on returning), and never returned. Harold was in upstate New York with this family by March of 1933. I have telephoned hundreds of Thiels in the U.S. and had a letter translated into German and mailed it to random Thiels in Germany upon the chance his parents had returned home. I have had the Passenger Arrival List Index searched but could not find any record of their arrival, nor could I find an application for Naturalization. Due to the Privacy Laws of New York State, we cannot get a copy of Erika's birth certificate until 75 years have passed and this is the only way to verify that she is actually the missing sister. Harold would very much like to know what happened to his sister and since his parents were only 25 when he was born, he may have other siblings out there. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening. Sylvie Paine [email protected]