She passed her Abitur in 1922 at a convent school and then became a teacher, while studying Semitic languages and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt in 1927.
Shortly after completing her doctorate about the Nasib in ancient Arabic poetry in 1931, her influential supervisor Josef Horovitz died.
in 1933 Lichtenstädter, a Jew, was forbidden by law from continuing her scholarship work in her home country and so she moved to Great Britain, where she initially made a living by typing and proofreading (1933–1934) as a researcher at the Queen's College Library.
At the same time, she attended Oxford University for three years, where she received another doctorate with David Samuel Margoliouth (1858-1940) resulting in an edition of the Kitäb al-muhabbar.
Because she was mistakenly assumed to be in Great Britain, she was put on the special search list by the Reich Security Main Office.