Frederic Bernard photograph collection

Frederic Bernard was born in Czernowitz (Chernovitsy), Ukraine. In 1930 Frederic began medical studies at the German University in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He left Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1933, and went to France and then to Italy to finish his studies. Frederic graduated in 1936. From Italy he returned to Czernowitz (Cernauti), then part of Romania, and obtained a license to practice medicine. Frederic married Gusti Klier in 1940. With the Nazi advancement in 1941, he and his wife were deported to Transnistria. From there they attempted to escape to Hungary but were caught in southern Poland in the town of Koroluvka (now Ukraine), where there was a Jewish ghetto. Frederic received permission to live and practice medicine outside the ghetto in the nearby town of Bilcze Zlota, Ukraine. In April 1942, he returned to the ghetto in Koroluvka. When the ghetto was liquidated, he survived by hiding in an attic and then slipping away to the forest where he was sheltered by members of the Polish underground. He joined a Soviet partisan group led by Sidor Kovpak in 1943. In 1944, Frederic joined the newly formed Second Polish Army. After the war, Frederic lived for several years in Italy. He and his wife emigrated to the United States in 1949