French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial

Learn more about Serge Klarsfeld at klarsfeld.org.

During World War II, 11,000 Jewish children were deported from France to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps in convoys that continued rolling until August 18, 1944--the very day of the Paris uprising that ended with the city's liberation. The children were among more than 75,000 French Jews deported to the camps under the Nazi plan for the final solution of the Jewish question. Nearly all of the young victims--some less than two years old--were arrested by the French police on orders of the Vichy government and turned over to the Germans for deportation. Only a handful of the children survived.

In French Children of the Holocaust, Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld--the man who brought Klaus Barbie to justice in 1983--has created a volume of stunning documentary importance. Drawing together archival evidence pried with difficulty from the French government, family testimony and photographs solicited by advertisements in Jewish publications in Europe, Israel, and the United States, and the Nazi's own lists of deportees--which were discovered, fading and crumbling, by Klarsfeld in a French Jewish archive--this book represents the culmination of many volunteers' painstaking efforts to give testimony to the short lives of these Jewish children.

Photographs of over 1,500 of the children, gathered from their surviving relatives and family friends all over the world, bring life to their brief biographies. Included with each photograph is the name, age, place and date of birth, home address, and the date and brief history of the deportation convoys that transported them to the death camps.

This book is an invaluable reference for scholars of the Holocaust, signifying the last attempt to rescue these young victims of the Nazis from oblivion and to help them leave a permanent mark on history as individuals and as a group.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Author's Preface Editors' Notes Acknowledgments Content and Style Guide Jewish Children and the Holocaust in France History and Chronology Maps The Rescue of Children by OSE Deportation Convoys Research and Documentation: Reconstructing the convoy lists Names and Addresses of the 11,000 Children Deported, by Convoy Convoy Histories The Photographs of Jewish Children Officials responsible for anti-Jewish actions in France Terms and abbreviations Index of all children Index of children in photographs

Serge Klarsfeld, a tireless Nazi hunter who located Klaus Barbie, among others, and the author of 20 books on the Holocaust, has compiled an astonishing, haunting document which restores to us the memory of 2500 children deported by the Vichy government to the German death camps. French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial has a b&w picture of each child, with a short paragraph detailing his or her place of birth, parentage and manner of deportation. By forcing us to confront each victim individually, Klarsfeld not only allows readers a vital historical connection to them but has shown how any attempt to explain their plight must fail.

Learn more about Serge Klarsfeld at klarsfeld.org.

During World War II, 11,000 Jewish children were deported from France to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps in convoys that continued rolling until August 18, 1944--the very day of the Paris uprising that ended with the city's liberation. The children were among more than 75,000 French Jews deported to the camps under the Nazi plan for the final solution of the Jewish question. Nearly all of the young victims--some less than two years old--were arrested by the French police on orders of the Vichy government and turned over to the Germans for deportation. Only a handful of the children survived.

In French Children of the Holocaust, Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld--the man who brought Klaus Barbie to justice in 1983--has created a volume of stunning documentary importance. Drawing together archival evidence pried with difficulty from the French government, family testimony and photographs solicited by advertisements in Jewish publications in Europe, Israel, and the United States, and the Nazi's own lists of deportees--which were discovered, fading and crumbling, by Klarsfeld in a French Jewish archive--this book represents the culmination of many volunteers' painstaking efforts to give testimony to the short lives of these Jewish children.

Photographs of over 1,500 of the children, gathered from their surviving relatives and family friends all over the world, bring life to their brief biographies. Included with each photograph is the name, age, place and date of birth, home address, and the date and brief history of the deportation convoys that transported them to the death camps.

This book is aninvaluable reference for scholars of the Holocaust, signifying the last attempt to rescue these young victims of the Nazis from oblivion and to help them leave a permanent mark on history as individuals and as a group.

Table of Contents:
Foreword
Author's Preface
Editors' Notes
Acknowledgments
Content and Style Guide
Jewish Children and the Holocaust in France
History and Chronology
Maps
The Rescue of Children by OSE
Deportation Convoys
Research and Documentation: Reconstructing the convoy lists
Names and Addresses of the 11,000 Children Deported, by Convoy
Convoy Histories
The Photographs of Jewish Children
Officials responsible for anti-Jewish actions in France
Terms and abbreviations
Index of all children
Index of children in photographs

Publishers Weekly

December publications Serge Klarsfeld, a tireless Nazi hunter who located Klaus Barbie, among others, and the author of 20 books on the Holocaust, has compiled an astonishing, haunting document which restores to us the memory of 2500 children deported by the Vichy government to the German death camps. French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial has a b&w picture of each child, with a short paragraph detailing his or her place of birth, parentage and manner of deportation. By forcing us to confront each victim individually, Klarsfeld not only allows readers a vital historical connection to them but has shown how any attempt to explain their plight must fail.

Serge Klarsfeld, author and attorney, has published a dozen books on the fate of French Jewry during World War II and has been active in bringing Nazi and Vichy officials to trial for the crimes they committed. He is president of the organization, Sons and Daughters of the Jewish Deportees of France.
[Author Bio]