Author: Elisabeth Bing
Born: 1914
Dates: December 2009
Bio: Elisabeth D. Bing was born in a suburb of Berlin.  In 1933, just as she was starting her freshman year of university, she was barred from attending the school because of her Jewish heritage.  She fled the city for London, becoming separated from her widowed mother who had arranged her passage, until after the war.  In London, she studied physical therapy.  While working in a hospital, she provided therapy for women in the maternity ward, who were at that time kept in bed for extended periods after delivering.  She read the highly influential book Childbirth Without Fear by Grantly Dick-Read and followed with the writing of Dr. Fernand Lamaze.

In 1949, she emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City.  In 1951 she began lecturing and teaching childbirth classes, and she was co-founder of the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics (now Lamaze International).

Currently, well into her nineties, she lives in New York City and continues to teach childbirth classes.