Upstander Profile-Erna Heymann Bernstein

Name: Erna Heymann Bernstein

DOB: December 21^st, 1925

DOD (date of death): December 2^nd, 2009

Age: 83

Erna Heymann was born in the city of Nurnberg in Germany on December 21^st, 1925. She was the baby of the family; she had an older sister that became a US citizen in 1944. Erna and her mother would remain constantly together and Erna would help her mother, who became ill and was sent to many hospitals, due to the horrifying conditions of the internment camps that Erna and her mother were placed at.

After Erna was released from Riversaltes, Erna stayed in a home run by the Jewish Scouts of France. After two months of staying in the Jewish Scouts home, a French family took her in. While Erna resided with the French family, they gave her a false identification card, which had her new name. She was now “Eveline Herbert”. That does not even sound like Erna. But, in order to be safe from the Nazis, Erna had to endure the burden of changing her name to “Eveline”. The card also said that she was residing in Alsace, a region in France. Erna found this very difficult to comprehend, because she had no idea where that was and not to mention that she spoke very little French. Upset and striving to see her mother again at the hospital, the hospital where her mother was staying, the employees let Erna stay for a few months and Erna found content there. Now, what was little Erna suppose to do all day long? She could not just wonder off, she would be caught and then she probably would have been deported. Luckily, she found a job in taking care of the newborn infants and babysitting the little toddlers. When Erna was lucky enough to be sent to Le-Chambon in 1943, she was taken in by August Bohny and Friedel Reiter. She was only 16 when she was sent to live in Le-Chambon. She was hired as a laundry woman. She did not mind this kind of work, as long as she had a place to sleep, food to eat and clothes to wear, she was more than content. Erna was also required to help children learn English, and lucky for Erna, she had learned English in Germany for four years. In fact, she even was clever enough to teach herself French by using her second language, English. She would borrow the English textbooks of the children, telling them that she wanted to prepare for the next the day’s lessons.

After the war, Erna continued to reside in Le-Chambon. She was later re-united with her mother, and the two of them joined Erna’s sister, Hannah in the States in 1946.Hannah had already become a US citizen in 1944. Later on in life, Erna would meet the love of her life, Hans Bernstein in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two married in 1948 and settled in Ohio. They had three children and she was a proud grandmother to six wonderful grandchildren, who brought her such joy to her life. Unfortunately, Erna passed away on December 2^nd, 2009 of cancer. She was 83 three years old.