6 April 1944 | The Gestapo under the direction of SS-Hauptsturmführer Klaus Barbie raided the Jewish orphanage in French town of #Izieu. 44 children and their 7 educators were taken to #Drancy & later deported to #Auschwitz. Only one person survived. 
Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, who brought Klaus Barbie to justice in 1983, later wrote: "Forty-four children deported - no mere statistic, but rather forty-four tragedies which continue to cause us pain ..."
In this photo you can see the children on the balcony of the children's home in Izieu, summer 1943. Seated in the center, in the second row from the bottom is Laja Feldblum. She was the only survivor of the Gestapo raid on the children's home on 6 April 1944.
Laja Feldblum was born in Warsaw & immigrated to Belgium with her family in 1929. In May 1940, they fled to France. She was deported to #Auschwitz with the Izieu children, and survived. Her parents perished in occupied France. Her brother and sister were killed in #Auschwitz.
Nikolaus Barbie was an SS and Gestapo functionary. He was known as the "Butcher of Lyon". He was responsible for the execution or murder of over 4,000 individuals and for the deportation of 7,500 Jews, the majority of whom perished in #Auschwitz.
After the war, United States intelligence services employed Nikolaus Barbie for his anti-Marxist efforts and also aided his escape to Bolivia. In 1971 Serge and Beate Klarsfeld identified and located him, then living in Peru. Barbie was arrested in 1983 and returned to France.
Barbie was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He remained an unrepentant and devoted Nazi, stating that “I am proud to have been a commanding officer of the best military outfit in the Third Reich.” He died in French custody in 1991. encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/art…
„The oldest one was only seventeen, the youngest only four
Led away from the Birkenau ramp to the chambers of gas
I will see them for all of my life, and I will keep
Their names, engraved in my soul”
A song „Children from Izieu” By Reinhard Mey.
Led away from the Birkenau ramp to the chambers of gas
I will see them for all of my life, and I will keep
Their names, engraved in my soul”
A song „Children from Izieu” By Reinhard Mey.
