Zerka T. Moreno

Zerka Toeman Moreno (June 13, 1917 – September 19, 2016) was a Dutch-born American psychotherapist and co-creator of psychodrama. She was a close colleague and wife of Jacob Levy Moreno. History Celine Zerka Toeman was born in Amsterdam on June 13, 1917. Her paternal grandparents were grain merchants who, like many other Jewish families of the time, left Warsaw to go to England when Zerka's father, Joseph Toeman (1887–1956), was still a toddler. Her mother, Rosalia Gutwirth (1890–1969) originated from Eastern Europe. It was in the Netherlands that Zerka, the youngest of four children, lived the first part of her life. Her siblings were Sabine (born 1912), Rudolph (1913–1992) and Charles (1916–1990). In 1931, when Zerka was fourteen, her parents moved to London to reunite with the rest of her father's family. Here, she finished high school and later studied art and fashion design. In 1939, she crossed the Atlantic for the first time to arrive in the USA with some family friends. In 1941, she was able to take her elder sister from Belgium to New York, to pursue treatment for her sister's mental illness. Moreno was one of the co-founders of the International Association for Group Psychotherapy.