|
|
 |
| |
[re…] sponsible for Jewish affairs, had written
Leguay on August 22 to ask his opinion about deportations of Jews who are
French citizens. The SS are demanding the deportation of French children of
stateless Jews who were arrested July 16 by French police in the Bordeaux area,
transferred to Drancy July 18, and deported to Auschwitz the next day. After
the arrests, the children had been placed with French families, most of them
non-Jewish. On August 24, Papon notes that in a telephone call the previous
day, Leguay asserted "it is necessary to carry out the SS's instructions." Most
of the children placed with families are retrieved from them at the last minute
by the Prefecture and their names are added to the list for transfer to Drancy
and deportation. All are transferred to Drancy August 26 and then deported to
their deaths in the East.
Bousquet's office reminds prefects of the
Unoccupied Zone that Jewish children aged 2 to 16 whose parents are subject to
arrest should be arrested with them. Youths aged 16 to 18 should be transferred
to the Occupied Zone if they are not presently "accompanied," as is the case
with many whose parents already have been transferred to Drancy in the first
five convoys from the Unoccupied Zone. As a result, gendarmes surround
children's homes of OSE, the Children's Welfare Organization, and take away
some of the adolescents aged 16 and 17 of German, Austrian, Czech, and Polish
nationality. The raids are staged on the OSE homes, Montintin in Chateau
Chervix (Haute-Vienne), Chateau du Couret in Jonchere-Saint-Maurice, Chateau de
Chabannes in Saint-Pierre-de-Fursac, the Chateau de Masgelier in Le
Grand-Bourg(Creuse), and the Chateau de Chaumont in Le Mainsat (Creuse).
August 31, 1942. Bousquet informs the prefects of the Unoccupied
Zone that before September 2 the Jewish children sheltered in children's homes
or centers in their areas must be sent to the camp at Rivesaltes. Thus, some of
the young boys arrested by gendarmes travel with manacled wrists through the
Vichy Zone to Rivesaltes, the first stop on their journey to Auschwitz.
Leading Catholic clergymen no longer limit themselves to courageous
words, whose impact has been profound, when faced with these events. They begin
actions to demonstrate to Vichy leaders that a moral line has been crossed and
they now face a genuine resistance aroused by their anti-Jewish actions.
In Lyons, for example, a dramatic incident August 31 symbolizes the new
response of a Church no longer hesitant to intervene directly against the
secular authorities. Alexandre Angéli, the regional prefect, had ordered
nearly 640 Jews to be assembled at the Venissieux camp on August 29 for
transfer to Drancy. Misinformed about Bousquet's instructions, Angéli
had removed 84 children from this convoy. Vichy orders him to retrieve the
children and put them on a convoy due in Lyons from Nice August 31 at 6 P.M.,
en route to Drancy. The 84 children are assembled, but they are carried off and
dispersed by members of a Christian Fellowship group led by Father Pierre
Chaillet, a Jesuit active in Jewish rescue efforts. Chaillet and his group
refuse to surrender these children of "unfortunate Jews sent into exile and
doubtless to their deaths."
September 1, 1942. Prefect
Angéli reports to Bousquet and Premier Laval that he has just met with
Monseigneur Jules-Marie Gerlier, archbishop of Lyons, about the incident and
Gerlier has declared that:
|
|
| |
| |
| |
FRENCH
CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST A memorial
Serge Klarsfeld
 |
Back |
Page 56 |
Forward |
 |
|
