Erna Steinweg was the mother of Marianne Steinweg who is also listed in this Memorial Book. She was born on 8 August 1916, as a daughter of the unmarried housewife, Wilhelmine Steinweg. Nothing is known about Erna's father. According to her mother, he died in action as a soldier in the First World War.

Erna grew up in foster homes. She was taken care of by the Jewish welfare service in Frankfurt. In 1920, the Frankfurt Flörsheim couple took care of the then four-year-old as their foster child. The family lived in good economic conditions in the Frankfurt Westend. Erna first attended the Holzhausen Elementary school, followed by the Fürstenberger Secondary school. The initially sickly child grew up into a sporty and very lively girl who was however very restricted by her very anxious foster parents in her urge to move. According to the etiquette of the time, Erna was considered a wild and difficult child.

In 1931, Erna's foster parents requested the fourteen-year-old stay temporarily in a home because they felt overwhelmed by the education of their foster daughter. This decision was a result of various events which burdened the family. The economic situation of the Flörsheim’s had worsened in the global economic crisis. The couple lived together with two sisters of Mrs. Flörsheim. It was so cramped that the pubescent Erna had to share her room with a 60-year-old. Besides, six months before the request, Erna was told by a classmate that she was not the biological daughter of the Flörsheim couple, but was born out of wedlock by a woman unknown to her. Erna, who had been very much restricted up to that time obviously did not manage to cope with these burdens. She withdrew from the control of her foster parents, displayed unusual behavior at school and dropped greatly in her academic performance.

Erna Steinweg was accepted in 1931 or 1932 at the Home of the Jewish Women’s Association in Neu-Isenburg. She stayed there until 19 May 1932. Afterward, Erna was taken over as "Voluntary Educational Aid.”

In December 1935, the then 19-year-old came again into the care of “Heim Isenburg.” She was heavily pregnant. It is not known where Erna Steinweg had lived between 1932 and 1935. In the lists of “Heim Isenburg,” she was identified as a domestic worker.

In January 1936, Erna Steinweg gave birth to her daughter Marianne at the Frankfurt Jewish Hospital at Gagernstraße 36. After her birth, she returned to “Heim Isenburg” for two months to look after her child. At the end of March 1936, Erna was deported to Frankfurt. Her daughter remained in the Jewish Women's League home until the dissolution of the institution in spring 1942.

The fate of Erna Steinweg could not be definitively established. In 1973, a search request for Erna Steinweg was made at the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen. She was last reported in Deusen, the birthplace of her mother. She was probably transferred to the deportation there. No trace of Erna Steinweg exists there on.

Sources: Stadtarchiv Neu-Isenburg; Institut für Stadtgeschichte Frankfurt/Main (Institute for the History of Frankfurt); Arolsen Archives