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first French transport to Auschwitz
in March 1942.
1942
January 20, 1942. The Wannsee Conference of
German government and SS officials, meeting in a villa in suburban Berlin under
the leadership of SS Lieutenant General Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler 's principal
deputy, decides on mass deportations of Jews to the East. The deportations are
intended to initiate Nazi plans for what is called the "final solution of the
Jewish Question."
Heydrich recalls that under a decree issued July 31,
1941, by Hermann Goering, he is charged with preparing "the final solution of
the Jewish question by emigration or by evacuation." However, Heydrich
observes, in the meantime Germany "has forbidden the emigration of Jews because
of the dangers of emigration in wartime and taking into consideration the
possibilities offered by the East. The evacuation of Jews to the East has taken
the place of emigration, with the prior approval of the Führer, as a
response to these new possibilities for a solution.... The Jews evacuated will
be first of all transported continuously to what we call transfer ghettos in
order to be transported from these further to the East."
In the picture
sketched by Heydrich, forced labor will lead to a "natural diminution" of the
Jews. They then will be transferred further to the East, into zones of
operation where, since the invasion of the Soviet Union, the physical
liquidation of Jews has been underway. (In fact, from July 1942, the gas
chambers of Auschwitz and Sobibor will fulfill this extermination role,
prepared by Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess on instructions given by Himmler
in the summer of 1941.)
February 11, 1942. On orders issued by
German authorities, Jews in the Occupied Zone are forbidden to change
residences and are made subject to an 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. curfew.
March
1, 1942. The Paris Prefecture of Police announces in the press that under
pain of sanctions "all Jews, whether French or foreign, who have one or several
children under 15 years of age, are ordered to register them between the 3rd
and 12th of March" on a schedule based on the first letter of the family name.
It even specifies that "in case of the birth of a Jewish child subsequent to
the dates established, declaration should be made at the Bureau of Jewish
Affairs of the Prefecture of Police."
March 4, 1942. At a
meeting in Berlin, Dannecker tells Eichmann and other officials of the
Gestapo's Jewish Affairs Department of "the necessity to finally propose to the
French government something truly positive, for example, the deportation of
several thousand Jews."
March 11, 1942. Informing the German
Foreign Ministry of planned deportations, to ensure against possible diplomatic
obstacles, Eichmann writes: "We inform you that in addition to the evacuation
planned for March 23, 1942 of 1,000 Jews from Compiègne,5,000 Jews
identified by the Gestapo should, after a brief delay, be evacuated from France
to the concentration camp of Auschwitz (Upper Silesia). I must also ask your
agreement for this case." On March 20, the Foreign Ministry replies that it has
no objection to deportation of the 6,000 Jews to Auschwitz.
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FRENCH
CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST A memorial
Serge Klarsfeld
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