Dr. Bernhard Birk

After graduating from high school, Bernhard Birk went to Tübingen to study philosophy and was accepted into the student fraternity Cheruskia in 1920. After obtaining his doctorate (Dr. phil.), he began his career as a trainee secondary school teacher. In 1930, he then moved to Vienna to take up the position of editor at the magazine "Schönere Zukunft" and later at the "Neuigkeits-Weltblatt". In this capacity, he also took a clear stance on domestic and foreign policy issues. After the "shutdown" of the Austrian CV and the founding of the ÖCV in 1933, he was taken on by the student association Austria Wien.

After the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich, his persecution as a staunch opponent of National Socialism also began. He was arrested on April 19, 1938 and taken to Dachau concentration camp on June 17, 1938. In the penal company of the concentration camp, he was also a fellow sufferer of Leopold Figl, Felix Herdes, Fritz Bock and Richard Schmitz. From there, he is transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp

In Vienna, he witnesses the liberation of Austria in May 1945. After the end of the war, he works as an editor at the 'Wiener Zeitung' and joins the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich