Ernst Werner

Born:
Berlin, Germany
October 12, 1920

Died:
March 15, 1993

Ernst Werner remembered being the only Jewish boy in his school and he experienced significant antisemitism at an early age. After Kristallnacht in November 1938, Ernst was questioned and beaten by the Gestapo multiple times. In May 1939, he was sent to a forced labor camp where he worked on the construction of railroad tracks. He was arrested in June 1943 and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In March 1944, he was sent to the camp in Wulkow where he was beaten by Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann. As the Soviet army approached in January 1945, Werner was moved to various camps by train and forced march. Eventually the prisoners were marched back to Theresienstadt where he and his mother were reunited.  The camp was liberated by the Soviet army in May 1945 and in June Ernst left on foot for Berlin. He came to United States in 1946 with his mother.

Werner’s father died in 1940 from heart problems. His sister her husband were sent to Auschwitz in 1943.

Parents:
Father, d. 1940
Mother, survived

Siblings:
Hanne, d. Auschwitz, 1943