Eleanor Marie (‘Nini’) Herman (née Ettlinger) oedd ail wraig Herman ac roedd hi’n awdur a seicotherapydd adnabyddus. Ganed Nini Herman yn Eleonore Marie Ettlinger yn Berlin yn 1925. Roedd hi’n ferch i Ellen Ettlinger (née Rathenau) a Lionel Ettlinger, dyn busnes, a threuliodd ei phlentyndod cynnar ar Fasanenstrasse yng Ngorllewin Berlin. Bu’n feddyg am 20 mlynedd ac yn seicotherapydd am 20 mlynedd arall gan ysgrifennu a chyfieithu dros 12 o lyfrau.
Addysgwyd Nini yn Hampshire ac fe ymgartrefood hi, ei brawd a’i mam yn Rhydychen yn ddiweddarach. Astudiodd feddygaeth yng Nghaeredin lle cyfarfu â’i gŵr cyntaf, ond ni pharhaodd y briodas. Yng nghanol y 1950au cyfarfu â Josef a bu’r ddau gyda’i gilydd am dros 45 o flynyddoedd, gan fyw yn gyntaf yng Ngorllewin Llundain cyn symud i Suffolk. Ar farwolaeth Herman yn 2000, gadawodd Nini amryw roddion o waith celf gwreiddiol a phrintiau i Sefydliad Herman, sef yw swmp ein casgliad ni heddiw.
Ysgrifenna David Herman am ei fam:
“Nini Herman played a crucial role in the founding of the Josef Herman Foundation. During his lifetime, she thought it was intrusive to visit Ystradgynlais, where he had lived for so many years with his first wife, Catriona. But after he died in 2000, she wanted to preserve his memory, editing his journals, writing about him and helping to set up a Foundation in his memory in his beloved Ystrad.
Nini was a doctor for twenty years, a psychotherapist for a further twenty and wrote and translated a dozen books. It was a life full of achievement but also haunted by personal loss and tragedy.
She was born Eleonore Ettlinger in Berlin in 1925, growing up in an affluent, assimilated German-Jewish home. Her mother was well-read and highly cultured. Her uncle was a leading art publisher. In 1938 Nini, her mother and brother fled to Britain. Nini later became a doctor in London, where in the mid-1950s she met the Jewish refugee artist, Josef Herman, who had just left south Wales. They lived together for the next forty-five years, in London then moved to Suffolk with their two children, David (1957-) and Sara (1961-66). In 1967 they adopted Rebekah, a source of great joy.
When they returned to London, Nini trained as a psychotherapist. She found her new career enormously fulfilling. In their west London home, she and Josef regularly welcomed old friends including leading writers, psychotherapists, artists and art collectors. These years were the happiest of her life. After Josef’s death in 2000 she did her best to preserve his memory.”