Factories of Murder

In accordance with the guidelines set out in the minutes of the Wannsee Conference, which had taken place on 20^th January 1942, to “comb Europe from West to East”, the Reich Security Main Office also began organising deportations out of France from March 1942.

From August 1942, the French authorities allowed many Jews to be transported to Drancy from Gurs and other camps within the unoccupied Zone. From Drancy they would be deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor. Out of more than 75,000 Jews transported out of France, more than two-thirds were foreigners. In total, only 2,500 of those deported survived.

Drawing by Joseph Richter, On the tracks to Sobibor, 1943

Sobibor, east of Lublin, was not a camp as such, rather a murder centre. 180,000 Jews were murdered here. This drawing was done by Joseph Richter and is annotated in Polish on the back: “A hand next to the tracks after a transport to Sobibor has passed by.” According to eyewitness accounts, people locked inside the trains would try to escape through the floor. When jumping from the moving train onto the tracks they were in danger of being run over.

Nothing more is known about the artist. His drawings were found in a farm after the liberation. It is probable that he did not survive.

Lé Feldblum was a carer at the children’s home in Izieu. On the 6th of April 1944, she and the children were arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was one of the few who survived this raid and after the liberation she related:<br />
“The journey lasted three days and two nights in sealed cattle trucks. There was some light, even though the windows had been boarded shut. Without water and not knowing where we were being taken, the little ones still kept their smiles. From time to time, they sought the protection of being close to an adult and asked where we were going. […] The fear-filled faces of innocent children who would never again see the country in which they had had so much fun will always be carved in the heart of a woman.”<br />
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Statement and questionnaire by Léa Feldblum, 1945 — Lé Feldblum was a carer at the children’s home in Izieu. On the 6th of April 1944, she and the children were arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was one of the few who survived this raid and after the liberation she related:
“The journey lasted three days and two nights in sealed cattle trucks. There was some light, even though the windows had been boarded shut. Without water and not knowing where we were being taken, the little ones still kept their smiles. From time to time, they sought the protection of being close to an adult and asked where we were going. […] The fear-filled faces of innocent children who would never again see the country in which they had had so much fun will always be carved in the heart of a woman.”

Statement and questionnaire by Léa Feldblum, 1945

Statement and questionnaire by Léa Feldblum, 1945

A drawing by Alfred Kantors of his arrival at Birkenau on 18.12.1943

Until a platform was constructed within the complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau in May of 1944, transports arrived outside the camp. Almost all transports, including those from France, arrived at these platforms at night. Then, the murderous selection process began in which few of the arrivals would be sent for forced labour and the majority would be immediately murdered.

Unlike Joseph Richter, the Czech Jude Alfred Kantor did survive, and immediately after the liberation, began to use his drawings to transcribe his experiences.