Bernat family photographs

Andor (later Andre) Bernat was born 8 September 1912 to Isidore (1890-1914) and Lenke (née Schönfeld, 1890-1984) Bernat in Budapest, Hungary. Andre had one sister, Ibolya Weisz (later Violet White, b. 1914). Isidore died serving in the First World War leaving Lenke to raise their young children alone. Before the German occupation of Hungary Andor was married to Sari Ackerman.The couple had one child, Maria. In 1944 Sari and Maria were deported from Hungary to Auschwitz where they perished. Andor, who had been interned at Mauthausen, survived the Holocaust and was later reunited with his mother and sister. After the war Andor married Magdolina (Magda) Szemere (b. 1923), a Holocaust survivor from Budapest who had been interned at Ravensbrück. Magda had been among hundreds of Hungarian Jewish women who were transferred from Ravensbrück to Penig, a sub camp of Buchenwald, in February 1945. In April Magda was among prisoners sent on a death march to evande approaching Allied forces. Magda managed to flee when she fell in to a ditch and was presumed dead by guards. Magda's father Lajos (1898-1944), mother Friderike (née Neufeld, 1900-1944), and brother Istvan (b. 1920) who had been taken for forced labor by the Germans in early 1944, perished during the Holocaust. Magda later reunited with her maternal grandmother, Julia Neufeld, who had been spared from deportation. In 1947 Andre and Magda welcomed their first child, Istvan, while living in the Bamberg displaced persons camp.Though the Bernats initially pursued immigration to Palestine, they were offered immigration assistance by Madga's uncle, Charles Szemere, who offered to sponsor their immigration to the United States.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Stephen Bernat

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Stephen Bernat, son of Magda Szemere and Andre Bernat.