Dielectric absorption phenomena, spatial polarization distributions, Paschen breakdown and radiation effects are just a small selection of Bernhard Gross’ interests in dielectric sciences. I had the privilege of getting to know Prof. Bernhard Gross as doctoral student during his frequent visits at Technical University Darmstadt and as postdoc and principal investigator at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, USA, and later during many visits at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil on the Campus of Sao Carlos. Here I will talk about the field of ferroelectrets, which is the newest development in electret research. Since ferroelectrets have developed mostly after Bernhard’s death I will address some of Bernhard’s related work to convert this talk to a Bernhard Gross Memorial Lecture.