caption death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date known_for image article_title birth_name occupation
portrait of walter bergman -lrb- n -rrb- 1986 cape town königsberg walter bergman 30 july 1913 numismatics walter bergman.jpg walter bergman
 walter bergmann photographer
walter bergman

walter bergman -lrb- 1913 -- 1986 ; born walter bergmann in königsberg -lrb- now kaliningrad , russia -rrb- , east prussia , germany on 30 july 1913 -rrb- was a south african numismatist .
in 1933 , his family fled nazi germany to amsterdam in the netherlands .
in 1936 , bergmann travelled to south africa .
when world war ii broke out in 1939 , bergmann sought to join the south african army , but as he felt his name was too german-sounding -lrb- there was significant anti-german feeling as the war loomed , and as the nazi persecution of the jews and the holocaust had not yet happened , this feeling made no distinction between germans and german jews -rrb- , he removed the second `` n '' from his name , adopting the dutch variation of the surname .
during world war ii , bergman served with the south african forces , attached to the british 8th army -- rising to the rank of sergeant major -lrb- woi -rrb- -- in north africa , italy and palestine , seeing action in all these theatres , notably at el alamein , tobruk and monte cassino .
after the war , bergman earned a living from what were ostensibly his hobbies , namely ice skating and photography .
several of his pupils became prominent south african photographers , and he taught ice skating at the empire exhibition .
it was during his military service -- especially during his time in italy and palestine -- that bergman became interested in numismatics , a subject for which he would gain ultimate renown .
during his life , he built up a collection of roman coins , particularly denarii , and a collection of english milled half-crowns .
he served as secretary and later president of the south african numismatic society , an organization in which he was to remain active all his life .
one of his best-known works was an audiovisual slide presentation and recorded talk entitled `` the rulers of imperial rome '' , tracing the history of rome through the medium of its coins .
however , it was his collection of south african banknotes that was most remarkable , acknowledged as the most complete collection in private hands .
in 1971 , he published `` a history of the regular and emergency paper money issues of south africa '' .
in the world of south african numismatics , the book is still considered to be the most definitive work on the subject .
he died in cape town in 1986 .
