{{Infobox adult biography | name = Bernard Natan | image = Bernard Natan.jpg | caption = Bernard NatanBernard Natan on trial (filmed against his wishes) | birth_name = Natan Tannenzaft or Natan Tanenzapf | birth_date = <ref name="Bio">[http://www.lips.org/bio_natan_GB.asp Rossel-Kirschen, André. "Bernard Natan." Les independents due premier siecle. www.LIPS.org] No date.</ref> | birth_place = Iași, Kingdom of Romania | death_date = October (aged 56) | death_place = Auschwitz-Birkenau, German-occupied Poland | death_cause = Execution? | height = | alias = | website = }} Bernard Natan (born Natan Tannenzaft; 14 July 1886 – October 1942) was a French-Romanian film entrepreneur, director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s. Natan was deported to Auschwitz after the studio he owned went bankrupt, and his reputation was destroyed with wrongful accusations of pornography and fraud which then led to his conviction. He deserves to be remembered for more than these untruths,Slade, Joseph. "Bernard Natan: France's Legendary Pornographer." Journal of Film and Video. 45:2–3 (Summer-Fall 1993). Natan certainly worked in mainstream cinema from his youngest days, working his way up from projectionist and chemist to cinematographer and producer. He eventually acquired the giant French motion picture studio Pathé in 1929. Pathé collapsed in 1935, and then Natan was convicted of fraud. However, he laid the foundation for the modern film industry in France and helped revolutionize film technology around the world. Natan died after being transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Personal life Natan was born Natan Tannenzaft (possibly Tanenzapf) to Jewish parents in Iași, Romania in 1886. He moved to France in the early 1900s and, despite being a Romanian, volunteered to fight for France in World War I. In 1909 he married and subsequently had 2 children. In 1921 he became a French citizen, and at some point changed his name to "Bernard Natan." His younger brother Émile Natan also moved to France and became a film producer. Mainstream film career Natan worked as a projectionist, film lab chemist, titles designer, cinematographer and producer during his early years in Paris. He was a publicity stringer for Paramount Pictures during the early 1920s. But by 1929, Natan's Rapid Film had become a major film producer and distributor. His reputation was such that in 1924 Natan became a member of the executive committee of the Cinematographic Employers' Federation. By 1926, his film laboratory was highly regarded, he had established a marketing firm, and he built two