Bernard Kempler (M / Poland, 1936), Holocaust survivor
Bernard Kempler (M / Poland, 1936), Holocaust survivor
Anita Kempler / Anita Lobel (F / Poland, 1934), Holocaust survivor -- <Sweden> -- <United States>
- KEYWORDS : <Krakow Ghetto> <Hidden Children> <Christian Orphanage> <Plaszow> <Auschwitz> <Ravensbruck -- <Sweden> <United States>
Biography
Anita and Bernard Kempler were born in Krakow, Poland, to a merchant family. When World War II began, the children and their nanny, whom they called Niania, were forced into hiding for the next four and a half years, first in the countryside, then in a ghetto, and finally in a convent, where the Nazis caught them. The two children were then sent to Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. They were rescued in 1945 by the Swedish Red Cross and reunited with their parents in 1947. In 1952, the family moved from Sweden to New York City.
Every Face Has a Name
Bernard Kempler was born in 1936 in Krakow, Poland. During the war Bernards parents decided that he and his sister Anita would go away with their maid, to have the best possible opportunity to survive. From the age of 6 Bernard had to dress like a girl, so the Nazis wouldn’t see he was a Jewish boy. Bernard and Anita were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later to Ravensbrück. They were saved by Red Cross in 1945 and transported to Sweden and Malmö on April 28, 1945. Bernard was separated from Anita for a while because of tuberculosis. A couple of years after the war the two siblings were re-united with their parents in Stockholm, who they at this point barely could recognize. The family emigrated to New York in 1952. Eventually Bernard became a psychologist, got married to Diana and had two children. Today he lives in Paris, France.