Bertrand Herz, witness day at the Shoah Memorial, 2007
Mandatory credit: Shoah Memorial
Bertrand Herz was born in Paris on 24 April 1930, from a Jewish family originally from Metz, settled in the Vésinet in the Paris region. Faced with the intensification of persecution in the summer of 1942, his parents, Willy and Louise, decided with their three children to move to the southern zone and eventually joined Toulouse.
After the Allied landing in North Africa and the invasion of the southern area by German troops, the Herz family was arrested on 5 July 1944 by the Gestapo. The father, mother, Bertrand and his older sister are interned at the Caffarelli barracks in Toulouse. Only his brother escapes arrest.
On 30 July 1944, they were deported to the concentration camp of Buchenwald for men and Ravensbrück for women. The journey lasts six days for the first, seven for the second. On 6 August 1944, Bertrand Herz is registered at Buchenwald. He stayed with his father in Block 61 of the "Petit camp" until 14 December. They were then sent to the Niederorschel Kommando where they worked in the Junkers factories assembling aircraft wings.
Bertrand’s father, Willy Herz, died on 27 January 1945. The inmates of Niederorschel were evacuated on 1
At the end of April, Bertrand Herz is back in Paris where he meets his sister and older brother. His mother, Louise Herz, did not survive the deportation and died in Ravensbrück on 29 December 1944.
Bertrand Herz resumed his studies and graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1953.
From 1953 to 1960, he worked at the Commissariat de la Marine Nationale where he was commander of the Réserve. IT specialist since 1958, he joined the Thomson group where he spent his entire career. From 1985 to 1994, he was an associate professor at the Institut Technologique de l'Université Paris-V, where he taught computer systems design.
Bertrand Herz joined the ranks of the Association Française Buchenwald Dora et Kommandos in 1994. He became its secretary general from 1997 to 2000, then one of the vice-presidents since 2000. In 2002, he became president of the International Committee Buchenwald Dora, a position he held until 2016. He then became Honorary President of the International Committee.
Bertrand Herz published his testimony
Bertrand Herz was named Knight of the National Order of Merit in September 2006 and Knight of the Legion of Honor in April 2011. The city of Weimar awarded him in October 2009, the title of honorary citizen and he received the Order of Merit of the Land of Thuringia, in April 2010.
Bertrand Herz has testified on numerous occasions at the Shoah Memorial and in many schools. A committed witness, rigorous and humanist, he was an artisan of the dialogue between the memories of the deportation and a figure of Franco-German memory work.
We extend our most sincere condolences to his children Olivier, Florence and Véronique, to all his family and loved ones.
Testimony of Bertrand Herz, deported from France, survivor (2004):
