Figure 1 Their fates were already known to me. Figure 2 In commemoration of the 80 th anniversary in of the mass deportations of Jews from the Var department of France , where both Toulon and Fayence are situated, as a school project Julia and her schoolmates researched some Jewish victims of this extradition.
Julia selected Ernst and Suzanne and came across my blog in the process. I will discuss these recent discoveries. A little context. My aunt Suzanne was married to an older gentleman, my uncle Dr. Second, I find it illuminating that extensive files often exist on Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as though documenting their deaths was more important than celebrating their lives and accomplishments. I acknowledge there may have been pragmatic reasons for post-mortem documentation, such as resolving estate issues.
It turns out that according to the dossier, this is the precise date Ernst and Suzanne were detained and began their final journey. My aunt clearly wasted no time communicating with her husband following her arrest. Foreigner, deported to Drancy on the 7 th of September , no news since. This passage begs dissection. First some historical background. The occupation of France by Nazi Germany at first affected only the northern and western portions of the country.
Vichy France adopted a policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany which entailed helping the German authorities deport Jews to killing centers, explaining why Franz and my aunt were arrested by the Fayence constables rather than their Nazi overlords. Fascist Hungary resisted Nazi demands to hand over Jews until the country was invaded in Italy had anti-Semitic laws, but nevertheless defended French Jews in south-eastern France, which was occupied by the Italian army, and thus saved thousands of lives.
The last example is the most relevant to the tragic French experience, whose consequences are yet to be resolved. More than 60 years after a collaborationist French government helped deport 75, Jewish refugees and French citizens to Nazi death camps, the national conscience has still not come to terms with the betrayal of a community persecuted by French anti-Semitic laws.
