Born in Chicago , Illinois , Bernard Widen spent the years of the Great Depression on Chicago 's West Side where his father , Dr. Jacob Widen , was a practicing dentist . Deciding to follow his father 's choice of profession , Bernard Widen attended Herzl Junior College and the YMCA College to obtain the prerequisites necessary for entry into the University of Illinois College of Dentistry . Following graduation in 1944 he served as a captain in the U.S. Army inGermany and Austria , where duty took him to a concentration camp and an encounter with survivors of the Nazi Holocaust . Upon discharge , Widen briefly joined his father in general dentistry on Chicago 's North Side before starting his own downtown practice . After 12 years in general dentistry , Widen decided he wanted to shift the focus of his practice to the specialty of orthodontia . He applied to the Loyola University School of Dentistry and in 1960 , Widen earned his master 's degree . Widen 's Masters thesis involved a study using electromyography on facial muscles following the separation of banded teeth and was cited in future thesis papers . Widen opened a new specialty practice on Chicago 's North Side , and after only a few years went back to Loyola as a teacher of basic orthodontia to undergraduates
Nazi Holocaust
The Holocaust
Bernard A. Widen