Her detailed story:
https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/UPENN_RBML_PUSP.MS.COLL.1460
Ursula Hertz was born on April 12, 1925, in Germany, the daughter of Walter and Dorothea Hertz. In 1936, when Ursula was eleven and her sister Renée was seven, her Jewish family fled Nazi Germany to live in Aerdenhout, in the Netherlands; however, when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, the family was forced to move to Naarden where they lived in partial hiding; and later to occupied Belgium, where they also lived in partial hiding. Ursula spent much of that time in Belgium separated from her family, living in complete hiding in the attic of a family acquaintance, placed there by her parents who feared she looked too Jewish.
Ursula had begun painting as early as age six, and during the war, her creativity and talent were utilized by the family as they worked to rebuild her father’s successful apparel business that he had been obliged to abandon when leaving Germany. In response to American soldiers’ appetite for souvenirs and gifts, the family started a small business with Ursula painting hand-decorated handkerchiefs to be sent home to loved ones. Monique Seyler states that „Ursula jumped wholeheartedly into designing and painting these hankies, which helped to launch her commercial career“ post-war, designing for her father’s new business, Forma, which manufactured bras and bathing suits. (Seyler, page 58).
Following World War II, Ursula moved to London (16, Eccleston Square) where she worked as a designer of fabric, fashion, and advertisements for companies including Ascher, Caprice, Forma (her father’s company), Franco-Suisse, O.W. Loeb (her uncle’s wine importation business), and Peter Pan Foundations, among others. She lived in London through much of the 1950s in a deeply Bohemian/artistic environment and traveled widely through Europe during this period. In 1957, she married Jonathan Sternberg (1919-2018), an American conductor, musical director, and professor of music, recognized as a key figure in introducing modern American music to post-war Europe. Prior to immigrating to the United States, the Sternbergs spent five months in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then returned to Europe where they lived in Brussels. In 1966, Ursula, Jonathan, and their two children, Peter and Tanya, moved to New York, when Jonathan Sternberg was appointed musical director and conductor of the Harkness Ballet. After stints in Rochester, NY, and Atlanta, the family settled in Elkins Park, in the Philadelphia area, in 1971 to accommodate Jonathan Sternberg’s appointment at Temple University as professor and conductor. In 1989, the family moved to Chestnut Hill, where Ursula was more at home in what she felt was more of an older European-style community.
Throughout her life, Ursula created prolifically, producing hundreds of sketchbooks, thousands of drawings and paintings, and more than one hundred „visual diaries.“ She candidly described, in words and images, her world, commenting on friends and family, travel, food, books, concerts and exhibits, and occasionally current events. She frequently wrote about her experimentation with new artistic methods and supplies. She was often critical of Americans and the United States, mainly of what she saw as a materialist, money-oriented, society with little interest in aesthetics or elegance in any context; but according to Seyler, she struggled to feel at home anywhere in the world, despite her frequent travels and an extraordinary ability to make many close friends globally.
Ursula’s health troubled her through much of her adult life and in 1999 she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Ursula Sternberg died on September 22, 2000, survived by her husband, Jonathan; her son, Peter; her daughter Tanya Pushkine; and her two grandchildren, Luca and Lara-Sophia Rojas.
For a more complete biography of Ursula Sternberg, please see Monique Seyler’s biography: Between Two Worlds: The Life and Art of Ursula Sternberg.
Father: Walter Hertz
See:
[CLI Part 27] do_fq4XkUYewLGenThDXHmvq Walter Hertz - Dokumente - Talk in the Forum of the Arolsen Archives (arolsen-archives.org)
Mother: Dorothea Loeb
See:
[CLI Part 27] do_h7eYQbtqhrguKy1RcMJM9 - Dokumente - Talk in the Forum of the Arolsen Archives (arolsen-archives.org)