Erna Holyer
This book recreates the life of Erna Holyer, a woman who weathered more twists and turns than the average mortal. Born into a turbulent political era, she survived Hitler’s dictatorship in Germany, World War II bombings, two major heart surgeries and breast cancer.
She left her native land, family, friends, culture and language to marry an American she met while working at a U.S. military base. Creating a new life for herself in America, she became an author, educator and artist. She wrote books in a language she learned as an adult.
Survival secrets she discovered throughout her varied and interesting life add to this engrossing autobiography.
In addition to Erna’s personal story, readers get fascinating glimpses into an era fraught with earth shattering events.
She was born in the era between World War I and the Nazi revolution. At the time of her birth, Coolidge was U.S. President and von Hindenburg had been elected president of the new German Republic.
Growing up, she expected to take over her parents’ movie theater in Germany and felt that her future had been laid out for her in the cradle.
Her future changed when her parents lost their business to a Nazi and moved to the country. She met and married an American and emigrated to the United States. In America, she became an author, educator, and artist despite struggles to survive.
The pressure of the surgeon’s scalpel made me scream until the sharp blade on my chest stopped. My scar still shows that stop of this 1948 operation. Dr. Frey, unrecognizable in his surgical garb, whispered something to the doctor behind my head, whereupon she draped a cloth over my face. He then continued to cut a half moon shaped opening, accessing the rib cage.
I protested when my ribs cracked and continued protesting during the entire procedure. Only once, I quieted in awe when the surgeon held my heart in his hand and I felt him pluck pieces of calcium from the front part of its shell. The cloth on my face kept me from seeing, but the local anesthesia left me aware of what was happening.
