Jean Bernard (13 August 1907 – 1 September 1994) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest from

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942 in the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp at Dachau. He was released for nine days in February 1942 and allowed to return to Luxembourg, an episode which he later wrote about in his memoirs of the camp and which was turned into a film.

Life

Born in 1907, the sixth of ten children, into the family of a Luxembourg businessman, he attended the

Athénée de Luxembourg The Athénée de Luxembourg ( en, Luxembourg Athenaeum), is a high school situated in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. Throughout the school's history of more than 400 years, the name was changed repeatedly. It's nowadays commonly called ...

until 1925, then studied at the university of Louvain in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and then studied theology and philosophy at the Catholic seminary in Luxembourg. He was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in 1933. From 1934, he headed the international Catholic film bureau (OCIC) in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

until it was closed down by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in June 1940. He then became involved in helping Luxembourg families who had fled to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

ahead of the German forces to return to their home country. On 6 January 1941, he was arrested by the German occupation forces as a symbol of Luxembourg Catholic resistance to German occupation; that May he was sent to Dachau. In February 1942, he was unexpectedly released for nine days. He believed that this was part of a scheme to persuade six Luxembourgish priests to publicly voice their support for the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Bernard refused to cooperate, and was sent back to Dachau. Apparently, intervention by his brother with senior Nazi officials in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

secured his definitive release on 5 August 1942. Until September 1944, when Luxembourg was liberated, Bernard lived in a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

. After the war, he served as the editor of the ''

Luxemburger Wort ''Luxemburger Wort'' is a German-language Luxembourgish daily newspaper. There is an English edition named the ''Luxembourg Times''. History and profile ''Luxemburger Wort'' has been published since 1848. The paper was founded just three days a ...

'', held senior positions in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Luxembourg, and received many awards. From 1945 to 1946 he described his experiences in a series of articles in the ''Wort'', under the title ''Dachau. Aus dem Tagebuch eines Sträflings'',''

.'' 19 May 1945 to 4 June 1946. and later in the book'' Pfarrerblock 25487''. The book was the basis for

Volker Schlöndorff Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s ...

's film ''

The Ninth Day ''The Ninth Day'' is a 2004 German historical drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff and starring Ulrich Matthes and August Diehl. It was released by Kino International. The film is about a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who is imprisoned ...

'' (''Der neunte Tag''), released in November 2004, about his nine-day release from Dachau. From 1947 to 1970, Bernard was president of OCIC (which later became

SIGNIS SIGNIS (official name: World Catholic Association for Communication) is a Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement for professionals in the communication media, including press, radio, television, cinema, video, media education, internet, and new ...

). In 1955 he was appointed honorary canon of the cathedral in Luxembourg. In 1958 he retired as editor due to health reasons, but continued to work at the newspaper. In 1970, Bernard was appointed an honorary

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

by Pope Paul VI. He was a member of the papal commission for film, radio and television; for the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, he was a member of the working group on the press, film, radio and television, and was president of the Commission for the persecuted church, within the International Catholic Organisations Conference. He died on 1 September 1994.

Honours

* Officer of the

Order of the Oak Crown The Order of the Oak Crown (french: Ordre de la Couronne de chêne, german: Eichenlaubkronenorden, lb, Eechelaafkrounenuerden) is an order of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. History The Order of the Oak Crown was established in 1841 by Gran ...

* Knight of the Order of Merit * Knight of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) * Stella della Solidarietà

Works

Publications

* ''Pfarrerblock 25487''. (Reprint) Luxembourg 2004. ** Schneider, Deborah Lucas (English translation). ''Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau. ''2007.'' ''

Filmography

* ''Mat Läif a Séil am Seminaire''. (''With Heart and Soul in the Seminary'') 1932, 23 minutes.

References

External links

* Krieps, Roger
''Hut ab vor Mgr. Bernard!''
Obituary in ''forum'', No. 154, October 1994. *
''Der Neunte Tag'' by Volker Schlöndorff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Jean Luxembourgian Roman Catholic priests Luxembourgian non-fiction writers Luxembourgian journalists Male journalists Luxemburger Wort people 1907 births 1994 deaths People from Luxembourg City Luxembourgian people imprisoned abroad Dachau concentration camp survivors Luxembourg Resistance members Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg Luxembourgian people of World War II 20th-century Roman Catholic priests 20th-century journalists