麻豆影院

Elizabeth Shevchenko Wittenberg was born in China, detained in World War II Japan and fully embraced her American life; a scholarship named for her describes her life in 54 words. Here is the rest of the story

Getting to know Elizabeth Shevchenko Wittenberg was 鈥渓ike peeling an onion,鈥� a longtime friend says. Each layer revealed another staggering challenge of a far-flung life faced by an indomitable woman.听

Wittenberg taught Russian at the 麻豆影院 for a decade after earning a master鈥檚 in Russian here. She is remembered as a compelling teacher, now immortalized with a scholarship that is named for her and summarizes her life in 54 words. There is more to her story.

Born in Manchuria, China, educated as a dentist, married and later detained for four years in World War II Japan, she moved to post-war America and reared two boys in rural Colorado before coming to CU 麻豆影院. She could have taught a rigorous curriculum on life. She was content to teach Russian.

Peter Wittenberg, a retired pathologist in North Carolina and a CU alumnus, recently shared his mother鈥檚 story with this publication. David Burrous, her student and friend and a teacher of Russian and Spanish in Jefferson County schools (and a CU alumnus), also shared his recollections. This is their account:

Elizabeth Shevchenko was born in Harbin, China, to a Ukrainian family who built part of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Her sister was born in Ukraine, and the family frequently traveled between Ukraine and Manchuria.听

Elizabeth and her sister studied dentistry in Germany and, after earning her credential, Elizabeth moved to Tokyo, where she met Ernst Wittenberg, a young OB-GYN doctor.听

He had worked for the Salvation Army Hospital in Berlin and later, with his father鈥檚 help, became a ship doctor and traveled the world. He moved to Japan in 1935 and opened a private practice, later becoming a physician for the British and U.S. Embassy delegations.听

In Tokyo, they had two children, Peter and Paul. It was still a time of relative peace, though not for long.

Detained and marked for death

In 1941, before it attacked the United States, Japan was widely expected to attack. Fearing for their lives, the Wittenbergs secured a British visa and were scheduled to sail for Britain on the Swedish ship Gripsholm on Dec. 7, 1941.听

But that was the 鈥渄ay of infamy鈥� on which Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, propelling the United States into World War II.听

Japan refused to let the Wittenbergs leave the country and interned the family. Britain tried to exchange the Wittenbergs for POWs, but Japan refused.

鈥淭he Japanese were afraid that my dad knew too much about what was going on in the diplomatic corps, so they put us on house arrest,鈥� Peter Wittenberg says. The Swiss Embassy and Red Cross recruited Ernst Wittenberg to join their medical team. He was in the first group of physicians sent to treat U.S. prisoners of war at the Nagoya prison camp.听

鈥淚 have his notes, and they were tearjerking. The prisoners were treated inhumanely. Food was scarce, and intimidation was common,鈥� Wittenberg says, noting that Japan also intimidated the Wittenberg family:

鈥淢y neighbor was hung in front of our house as a warning.鈥�

The entire Wittenberg family was to be executed on Aug. 15, 1945, but the execution order was halted because that was also the day that Emperor Hirohito announced Japan鈥檚 unconditional surrender.

The beginning and end of the war thus bookmarked their forced confinement and their escape from death.

New obstacles, more prejudice

After the war, Ernst Wittenberg became the personal doctor to the wife of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific.听Also, the family sailed to Seattle on a troop ship, ostensibly to freedom.听

鈥淒ad was a German Jew鈥攎other was Russian Orthodox鈥攁nd he had some money in the bank. But the (American) bank confiscated it, so we had no money.鈥� The family鈥檚 money remained frozen and unavailable to them until the 1960s.听

Ernst borrowed money from a sister in New York, so the near-penniless family then moved to Long Beach, New York. Young Peter and Paul went to school there.听

鈥淚 spoke fluent Japanese, German and a smattering of English,鈥� Wittenberg recalls. 鈥淪ince we did not have grades in Japan, they put me in third grade, which I flunked.鈥�

Elizabeth had been a dentist in Japan, but she would have had to repeat her training in dentistry to practice here. She declined. To help the family survive, she performed menial labor at a local hospital. She also waited tables.听

Ernst faced similar obstacles.

鈥淚n those days, they didn鈥檛 let foreigners practice medicine in the states,鈥� especially if they were German, Wittenberg notes. Colorado was one of the few states that allowed German-born physicians to take the medical licensing exam.听

A few days before Ernst was scheduled to take the test, the state of Colorado forbade him to take the exam.

William L. Knous, who was then Colorado鈥檚 governor, intervened on Wittenberg鈥檚 behalf. To those who would deny Wittenberg the right to practice medicine here, Knous said, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do that to the poor guy,鈥� Peter Wittenberg recalls.

After Ernst worked for a time at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, the family settled in the tiny town of La Jara, in Colorado鈥檚 San Luis Valley. Ernst Wittenberg took over the OB-GYN practice of a Quaker physician and delivered about 100 babies a year.听

Initially, the nearby Alamosa Hospital denied Wittenberg privileges but later relented under pressure from other physicians.听

In the 1950s, Ernst Wittenberg wanted to leave the San Luis Valley, and the family moved to 麻豆影院, over Elizabeth鈥檚 objections. Ernst became a physician at the CU 麻豆影院 Wardenburg Student Health Center.

Elizabeth enrolled in a CU 麻豆影院 master鈥檚 program in Russian and graduated in 1964. Peter earned a degree in biology in 1960 from CU 麻豆影院, then an MD from CU鈥檚 medical school in 1964. Peter鈥檚 brother, Paul, now deceased, earned his veterinary degree from Colorado State University in 1964.听听

鈥淪o, we all graduated the same week, which was unusual,鈥� Peter Wittenberg says.

Drinking with George Gamow, speaking in many tongues

In 麻豆影院, Elizabeth and Ernst became friends with George Gamow, the CU 麻豆影院 physicist who advocated for and developed the Big Bang theory of cosmology and after whom the Gamow Tower on campus is named. Gamow was born in Odessa, which was part of the Soviet Union then but became part of Ukraine after the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.

Gamow was Russian. 鈥淕eorge would be at our house frequently,鈥� often drinking cognac, Wittenberg recalls, though Wittenberg switched Gamow鈥檚 libation to vodka, because Gamow could drink great volumes of cognac. Vodka was cheaper.听

David Burrous remembers many evenings at the Wittenberg home. The Shevchenkos were Ukrainian, but like many Ukrainian families, they spoke Russian and Ukrainian. Elizabeth鈥檚 brother was an exception. He refused to speak Russian and spoke only in Ukrainian.

At dinner parties, the听lingua franca听could change,听Burrous notes.听A man who spoke Polish and German could speak in German to Elizabeth and Ernst, who would translate to English. Elizabeth鈥檚 sister-in-law visited from South America, and she spoke only Spanish and German. Though she spoke Chinese, Japanese, German, Ukrainian, English and Russian, Elizabeth did not know Spanish.听

At the dinner table, then, Elizabeth鈥檚 sister-in-law spoke Spanish to Burrous and his wife, Alisa, who translated to English. 鈥淥ccasionally we would use the wrong language with the wrong person and the table would erupt in laughter,鈥� Burrous says, adding: 鈥淒inner was always a multicultural experience."

The fare, too, was exotic. Before every dinner, Elizabeth would serve an听hors d'oeuvre;听her favorite was pickled cod.听

鈥淚 don't know if you've ever had pickled cod, but it's a little bit like bubble gum. I mean, you just chew it and chew it,鈥� Burrous notes. 鈥淏ut she always insisted that the the first part of the听hors d'oeuvres听was going to be pickled cod. And she wouldn't bring out the next听hors d'oeuvre听until we all finished the pickled cod. Ernst detested pickled cod, but he knew better than to not partake.鈥�

Teaching with a passion

Elizabeth never complained about not working as a dentist in the United States. 鈥淪he just saw an opportunity to teach, and she didn鈥檛 want to go through dental school again,鈥� Wittenberg says.听

Burrous agrees. 鈥淗er love was the Russian language and teaching. She was so kind in class, encouraging us to speak Russian. She had a new focus. In fact, I didn鈥檛 know she was a doctor of dentistry until several years before she passed away. It just never came up.

"We always spoke Russian together, in and outside of class. Meeting on Saturday mornings for coffee and a chance to speak Russian, my facility to speak Russian much improved.鈥�

Although she was popular with the students and successful in teaching Russian, she did not gain a permanent faculty position at CU 麻豆影院. The university reminded her that she was married to a physician and said another, male, candidate 鈥渘eeded the job鈥� as a permanent faculty member.听

鈥淪he was madder than hell,鈥� Wittenberg recalls. 鈥淪he was so mad when they told her that.鈥�

Despite the setback, Elizabeth taught for a decade at CU 麻豆影院 and took other opportunities to teach Russian. 鈥淪he just loved teaching, and she had a good personality,鈥� Wittenberg says.

And a compelling personality, Burrous adds. She was fully multilingual, but she didn鈥檛 learn English until she was an adult. For that reason, she sometimes used phrases that would evoke laughter from her friends.听

At a gathering whose attendees included CU alumnus John Bartow, Elizabeth said, 鈥淚 want to sit next to the John.鈥� She did not repeat that mistake.

Elizabeth loved to eat at a restaurant called the Black Angus, Burrous recalled. 鈥淏ut when she would tell us that she and Ernst were going out to dinner that night, she would say they were going to the Black听Agnes. We kidded her about that for years.鈥�

鈥淪he always took the joke very well. I mean, here was a woman who spoke six different languages, and we鈥檙e joking with her because she pronounced something incorrectly.鈥�

Burrous attributes Elizabeth鈥檚 facility with language, in part, to the fact that she was extroverted and enjoyed talking with people, and in part to the fact that she needed to learn foreign languages when she was in foreign lands.

鈥淚f she went to a grocery store and there was someone speaking Japanese, she would join in the conversation. If there were someone speaking German, she would join in,鈥� Burrous recalls.听

She soaked up new languages as she went to the grocers, ferried clothes to the dry cleaners, 鈥渁ll of those things regardless of what country they were in,鈥� Burrous adds.

Elizabeth maintained her Russian Orthodox Christian customs. For instance, when Burrous and his family moved into a new home, she brought them a loaf of bread and flask of salt, a Russian tradition that imparted a 鈥渉ouse spirit.鈥澨�

When those who have a house spirit move to a new home, they take the spirit, along with the bread and salt, with them. 鈥淵ou say, 鈥楬ouse spirit, come with us. We are going to a new house,鈥欌�� Burrous notes.听

Now in a different home, the Burrous family still has the bread and salt she gave them, sustaining the spirit of the house and听the memory of their friend.听

Elizabeth Shevchenko Wittenberg received her MA in Slavic Languages from CU in 1964 and taught at CU for 10 years and is the namesake for the听. She was involved in Russian activities throughout the state, including the High School Olimpiada of Spoken Russian and Jefferson County鈥檚 weekend Russian immersion village 鈥淪osnovka.鈥� She died in 1990.

Ernst Wittenberg was inducted into听听in 2017. He died in 1990.

鈥婸hotos courtesy of the Wittenberg family.