Heinz Bernard
| Heinz Bernard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Heinz Messinger 22 December 1923 Nuremberg, Germany |
| Died | 18 December 1994 (aged 70) London, UK |
| Resting place | Ashes are at Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan |
| Other names | Heinz Bernhard Löwenstein |
| Occupation | Actor, director, producer |
| Spouse(s) | Nettie Lowenstein |
| Children | 3 |
Heinz Bernhard Löwenstein, known as Heinz Bernard (born 22 December 1923 – died 18 December 1994) was a British actor and director and theatre manager. Of Polish Jewish and German Jewish descent, he lived and worked in Israel from 1971-81. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), graduating in 1951.
After graduation he worked in a group of travelling players throughout Britain, performing every night in different towns and villages. He went on to become the manager of the famous leftist Unity Theatre, London. As manager of the Unity Theatre he staged the first professional British production of a Brecht play, The Visions of Simone Machard. Lionel Bart, who later gained fame as the author of the musical Oliver!, designed the poster. Bernard also acted and directed in the travelling Century Theatre and taught at RADA, where he was director of admissions.
Heinz's surname at birth was Messinger. He was adopted as a baby by a family called Löwenstein. After leaving RADA he worked under the professional name Harry Bernard, later becoming Heinz Bernard.
Heinz Messinger grew up in a Jewish family in Nuremberg in Nazi Germany. He was adopted by the Lowenstein family after his biological father died of tuberculosis. His biological father was the hazzan of the city's Orthodox synagogue. As was usual at the time, he was not told by his parents that he was adopted. In March 1932, when Heinz was nine years old, his adoptive father Max Lowenstein, committed suicide following the collapse of his business. In 1933 the Nazis came to power in Germany and began persecuting the Jews. Jews were banned from state schools and only one Jewish school, the Israelitische Realschule, in neighbouring Fürth, was allowed to operate where Heinz attended.
In November 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived Heinz and his family of their German citizenship. In December 1936 Heinz had had his bar mitzvah in the main Orthodox synagogue of Nuremberg where his biological father had been the hazzan. In August 1938 Julius Streicher, editor of Der Stürmer, ordered the large Nuremberg Reform Synagogue torn down. In October 1938, during Kristallnacht, the synagogue where Heinz had had his bar mitzvah was burnt down along with most of Germany's synagogues. He hid with relatives in Frankfurt.
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