Elisabeth Heyward was one of the participating interpreters during the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

(1945–1949) held in the city of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús. La interpretación de conferencias: el nacimiento de una profesión – de Paris a Nuremberg. Editorial Comares: 2000
She was the wife of

Dick Heyward Dick Heyward (September 22, 1914 – August 3, 2005) was a deputy executive director of UNICEF between 1949 and 1981. During that time, he was responsible for developing many of UNICEF's policies for children and served under three executive direct ...

, former senior deputy executive director of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

.UNICEFUSA.or
“2005 Archive: UNICEF Mourns Death of Dick Heyward – Beloved and Influential UNICEF Senior Statesman Dies at 90”, New York, 04 August 2005
, retrieved on May 30, 2007UNICEF.or

retrieved on May 30, 2007 Her son is former CBS News president Andrew Heyward.

Biography

Exodus from Russia

Elisabeth Heyward was born on October 8, 1919, in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. About a year after her birth Heyward's family left St. Petersburg. In 1920, she was among a mass of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

migrants diverging into

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Four years later, Heyward's family left Germany to settle in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. A few years after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

– 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

with her parents although they were fluent in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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 Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

. After World War II, Heyward was able to demonstrate her incredible talent as a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

while working at the ''France Presse''

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

. Heyward's experience at ''France Presse'' eventually led to her interpreting career, first during the Nuremberg Trials and then for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

.Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús. Barr, Anne (English Translation from Spanish). Interpreters at the United Nations: A History. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca:2004.
-

Book excerpts

In New York City

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, Heyward joined the French Section of the Interpretation Service, working from English and Russian. She later occupied the post of Head of the French Section until her retirement in 1981. After officially leaving the U.N. as a permanent staff member, Heyward continued working as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

interpreter until April 17, 2004. She died July 29, 2007 in New York.

References

External links

United Nations Interpretation Service Website, date retrieved: 28 May 2007Interpreters: Inside the Glass Booth by Elsa B. Endrst, The UN Chronicle, United Nations Publications (1991), Gale Group (2004), date retrieved: 28 May, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyward, Elisabeth United Nations interpreters Nuremberg trials 1919 births 2007 deaths 20th-century translators Russian officials of the United Nations Soviet expatriates in Germany Soviet emigrants to France French emigrants to the United States