Maier, Erna

Erna Maier was born on June 26, 1912 in Vienna (Austria). She was the only child of Laura (née Pollak) and Heinrich Maier. Laura Maier was born in Vienna on October 7, 1888 and died 1969. Heinrich (Henry) Maier was born in Burgenland (Austria) and died 1950. They lived in Vienna in a middle-class neighborhood with predominately Christian residents. There were only five other Jews among Erna Maier's classmates, and her best friends were non-Jewish, until she encountered anti-Semitism in 1938. Heinrich Maier had a jewelry store and he and Laura were members of a Conservative Synagogue. Erna Maier went to Hebrew school, and at home the family spoke German. Laura Maier enjoyed speaking French. Laura and Heinrich Maier sometimes also used Hungarian as their secret language. Erna Maier graduated from the Castelligasse High School and in 1932 she graduated from the Weiser School of Languages. In 1923/24 she had to spend about one and a half year at the children's sanatorium, "Sonnenkinderheim" in Aflenz (Austria). Erna was a member of the Youth Group of the WIZO, the Women's International Zionist Organization. In 1934 she spent one year in England and worked as a household help. She returned to Austria in December 1935. In October 1938 she immigrated to New York via Paris and London. Her mother's sister, Tessi, and her husband Robert provided the affidavit for her as well as for her parents, who arrived one year later in New York. Erna lived in the Bronx, New York and worked as a cook and a governess. She was also employed by the United Nations as an interpreter and for the Office of Censorship as a translator. After the war she was employed as a secretary and a teacher. In 1943 she became a U.S. citizen. Erna Maier was married to Charles Simmons and had a daughter named Helen, who was born August 9, 1953 and became a librarian.

From the guide to the Erna Maier Collection, 1901-1999, bulk 1910-1995, (Leo Baeck Institute)