Erna Herbers (née Westhelle; born 2 May 1925) is a German retired swimmer. She competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in the 100 m backstroke event, but failed to reach the final.[2] In 1948 she won the German 100 m backstroke title,[1] but missed the 1948 Olympics because Germany was excluded from them.[3]
She was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and grew up in Hilversum, where she started swimming aged 12. Her family had bonds with Germany, as her father was German[4] and was employed by a German company. Westhelle herself worked as a stenographer at a Waffen-SS office in Hilversum[5] and competed for the German club Undine Mönchen-Gladbach. In 1943 she won the German 100 m backstroke title,[1] for which she received a personal present from the SS-GruppenführerKarl Maria Demelhuber.[6] During World War II she met her future husband and in 1945 moved with him to Germany; there she changed her last name to Herbers.[1] She retired from swimming in 1953, and in 1970 moved to Hilden, a town near the German-Dutch border.[3][5][7]
