Marie Françoise Bernard

Marie -Françoise Bernard ( born September 16, 1819 in Paris, † October 9, 1901 in Bezons; born Martin, Fanny short ) was the wife of Claude Bernard and a decided Vivisektionsgegnerin.

Life and work

Marie -Françoise Bernard was the daughter of the doctor Henri Martin and his wife Anne- Antoinette, born Hezette. On May 7, 1845, she married Claude Bernard. Both had two daughters, Jeanne- Antoinette Henriette ( called Tony; 1847-1923 ) and Marie -Louise - Alphonsine ( called Marie, 1850-1922 ), and two died young sons: the firstborn Louis -Henri (* 1846) was only three months old, Claude- Henri- François ( * 1856) died at 15 months.

Claude Bernard, who came from the François Magendie School, took the vivisection for its physiological research. Marie -Françoise Bernard contributed to the beginning of their marriage in a part of the dowry for physiological research. His experiments but increasingly aroused the opposition of his family, especially his wife, a circumstance which was responsible for their divorce on 22 August 1870.

It is reported that Claude Bernard, has brought in his enthusiasm, a stray dog home and vivisected there on the kitchen table. Marie -Françoise was, startled by the howling of the dog, with Tony Marie and fled into the house of the writer Victor Hugo. Magnus Schwantje writes in 1919: " The hearts of the daughters had already turned away early from the father when she missed her faithful dog one day and to her great pain and horror then discovered that the favorite had been vivisected by her father. "

Fanny Bernard founded with her daughters and support from Helena, Comtesse de Noailles in 1882, the first French Association against animal testing. Acting President of the Société Française contre la vivisection was Alphonse Karr, the elected honorary president Victor Hugo. She joined also founded the December 2, 1845 by Étienne Pariset ( 1770-1847 ) Société protect rice to des animaux and was one of its strongest members.

After her divorce Fanny went with Tony and Marie to several times until it settled in 1893 in BEZONS. There they founded a home for dogs and housed in their home countless cats.

In the years 1919 and 1925 Magnus Schwantje and Manfred Kyber cited consistently from reports that have appeared in German newspapers and magazines beginning of 1914, after which on July 12, 1913 met with the preparations to Claude Bernard's 100th birthday in a soul tragedy: his daughters lived after the death of her mother Fanny completely withdrawn by the people in a one-story house in BEZONS. They were not willing to participate in the festivities because they rejected any glorification of his name because of irreconcilable moral distance between them and their father. They had only prescribed the task of continuing the work of her mother and make amends with mercy and love again what her father had done to the animals for decades, and took all outcasts dogs and cats and sick animals, which they gave in their care.

Marie Bernard died on 14 September 1922. Shortly thereafter, on January 7, 1923, died and her sister Tony.