Survivor Profiles: Erna Gorman

Her Story:

Erna Gorman was born in Metz, France to a Polish father and Ukrainian mother. In the summer of 1939, when Erna was nearly six years old, the family traveled to her father’s hometown of Rozwadów, south of Warsaw, to attend a wedding — and the outbreak of war made it impossible for them to return home. As German restrictions on Jews intensified, the family made their way to Monasterzyska, in occupied-Ukraine, her mother’s birthplace, where they had relatives. The Germans soon occupied that region as well, establishing a ghetto there, as they had in Rozwadów. Her father survived an Einsatzgruppen massacre, and the family was eventually moved through Buczacz and Borki ghettos, hiding in bunkers dug beneath floorboards during Nazi round-ups.

Her father eventually found a farmer willing to shelter the family, and what was meant to be a brief refuge became eighteen months of hiding in the hayloft of a locked barn. Living in total silence, communicating only in whispers, the family emerged physically and emotionally devastated. During their escape through the snow, Erna’s mother was wounded by gunfire and later died. Erna had lost her speech entirely. She and her father made their way with the Russian army to Katowice and eventually back to France.

In 1953, Erna and her father immigrated to the United States, settling in Detroit, Michigan under the sponsorship of an aunt. Having only begun her formal schooling at age ten and a half, Erna became self-educated and ultimately learned seven languages. She dedicated much of her life to Holocaust education, and on December 12, 2009, was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Education from Northern Michigan University for her contributions to Holocaust education, delivering the commencement address.

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