Elisabeth Heyward
Elisabeth Heyward was one of the participating interpreters during the Nuremberg Trials held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II. She was the wife of Dick Heyward, former senior deputy executive director of UNICEF. Her son is former CBS News president Andrew Heyward.
Biography
Exodus from Russia
Elisabeth Heyward was born on October 8, 1919, in St. Petersburg, Russia. About a year after her birth Heyward's family left St. Petersburg. In 1920, she was among a mass of Russian migrants diverging into Berlin. Four years later, Heyward's family left Germany to settle in Paris, France. A few years after World War I – at the age of five – Heyward had the overwhelming task of attending a school in Paris without, at first, having any knowledge of French. At home, Heyward spoke Russian with her parents although they were fluent in German as an outcome of having resided in Berlin for four years.In France
With the most of Elisabeth's upbringing being in France, Heyward's education was almost exclusively French, and she later attended an institution that offered advanced studies in trade and commerce. Although they had stated that the milieu of her education had been male-dominated, Heyward finished her schooling with excellent accomplishment and had become fluent in English, winning first prize, in fact, during an English-language competition. At that time, however, the French government failed to recognize this notable linguistic accomplishment as Heyward had not yet earned French citizenship.After World War II, Heyward was able to demonstrate her incredible talent as a polyglot while working at the France Presse news agency. Heyward's experience at France Presse eventually led to her interpreting career, first during the Nuremberg Trials and then for the United Nations in New [York City|New York].