Father Jean Bernard

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Father Jean Bernard (1907-1994) was a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942 in the Nazi 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.

Born in 1907 the sixth of ten children into the family of a Luxembourg businessman, he studied at the university of Louvain in Belgium and 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 in Brussels until it was closed down by the Gestapo in June 1940. He then became involved in helping Luxembourg families who had fled to France 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 and that May sent to Dachau. Apparently intervention by his brother with senior Nazi officials in Paris secured his release in August 1942.

After the war Monsignor Bernard held senior positions in the Catholic Church in Luxembourg and received many awards. He died on 1 September 1994.

Father Bernard wrote the compelling book "Pfarrerblock 25487" (ISBN 2-87963-286-2) about his experiences in Dachau. The movie The Ninth Day directed by Volker Schlöndorff is based on a portion of his diary detailing his nine-day release.