Elisabeth Heyward was one of the participating

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

s during the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

(1945–1949) held in the city of

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.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, former senior deputy executive director of

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

.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 Andrew Heyward (born October 29, 1950) is a former President of CBS News, serving from January 1996 until early November 2005. He is a principal at MarketspaceNext and Heyward Advisory LLC. He is the son of UNICEF deputy-executive director Dick ...

Biography

Exodus from Russia

Elisabeth Heyward was born on October 8, 1919, in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

migrants diverging into

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A few years after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

– at the age of five – Heyward had the overwhelming task of attending a school in Paris without, at first, having any knowledge of

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. At home, Heyward spoke

with her parents although they were fluent in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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 membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

. 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. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

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 ma ...

. 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 the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

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

.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 American people of Russian descent American people of French descent French people of Russian descent 20th-century translators Russian officials of the United Nations Soviet expatriates in Germany Soviet emigrants to France French emigrants to the United States