Biographies

Heino Erichsen, MA

Heino R, Erichsen is known as “The compassionate soldier.”The Reluctant Warrior: German POW Finds Peace in Texas is the title of Heino’s memoir. His book and speeches showcase a German boy’s view of WWII. Formerly a teen-age participant in a destructive army in North Africa, he is honored as a pacifist, a POW survivor, and the highly ethical pioneer of Latin American adoptions. Heino initiated child-saving expeditions to war-torn, poverty-stricken countries, visiting orphanages, and setting up adoption programs. His memoir is the inside story of how one man, with tragic optimism, created a world-renowned international adoption agency.

Heino was the keynote speaker for German Memorial Day at the Patton Museum in November in 2009. He previously spoke at other events, including the International Adoption Conference at the University of Moscow in 1993 and at International Adoption Symposiums on US military bases in Germany, Okinawa, and Japan. He is often seen on the History Channel, "German Prisoners in America", and the Texas History Channel, "Postcards from Texas", Episode 131.

Heino R. Erichsen was a delegate to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. He was present in The Hague, Holland, for the final reading of the treaty in 1993. He participated in the humanitarian activities of the National Council for Adoption and the Joint Council on International Children’s Services for twenty-five years. He is an expert in the field of international adoption and has been interviewed for national and local television broadcasts by ABC, CBS and NBC, Cable News Network (CNN), Univision and WorldNet (U.S. Information Service) as well as television and radio talk shows, newspapers and magazines.

Heino was born in Kiel, Germany, and grew up through the Nazi’s reign of terror. His survival of WW II in North Africa and eleven prison camps honed his instincts and developed a world view that contributed to his success. Heino was naturalized as a US citizen in 1953. He earned a baccalaureate in accounting at Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in human development specializing in foreign adoption sources and procedures at St. Mary’s College, Winona, Minnesota in 1981.

He has been married to author Jean Nelson Erichsen since 1963. He is her fact-checker, researcher, and principal proofreader. The Erichsen’s grown children continue to lend expertise to their work. Heino, Jean, and Kirk Erichsen were the innovators of the first international adoption manual on the internet in 1996. They also created the first international adoption ListServe to help adoptive parents figure out their place in a pool of prospective adoptive parents waiting for the referral of a child.