Konrad Bieber was born in 1916 in Berlin, (Charlottenburg) Germany. His family lived in Gruenwald and Konrad went to the gymnasium there. His father was a German scholar and writer and his mother ran a gymnastics school. In 1933 the family left for Paris after warnings that the situation for Jews was worsening.

In 1939 Konrad married and joined the French army. He was captured and sent to various P.O.W. and labor camps in southern France. While his parents were in non-occupied southern France they received visas to the United States (via Marseilles and Lisbon) with the help of Varian Fry. In 1943 Konrad and his wife went into hiding with French farmers for 18 months. He describes his being helped by many French non-Jews. His wife lived in Montauban were she worked for the Joint Distribution Committee. In 1944 she witnessed a massacre by the retreating German army in Tulle, France. At that time Konrad was a sergeant in the French underground. They were liberated on August 19, 1944 and were able to come out of hiding and live as Jews again in the town. Konrad was sent to Paris to be an interpreter. His son was born in 1945. He stayed in Marsac (near Montauban) and was a teacher there from 1945-47. In 1947 the family received visas to come to the United States, where Konrad taught scientific German at Lehman College, in New York.