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.
‘Holocaust–the destruction of European Jews’
A seven-lessons free online course about the history od the #Holocaust.
All parts below.

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More from @AuschwitzMuseum

7 Apr
7 April 1944 | Two Slovak Jews Rudolf Vrba (b. 1924, no. 44070) and Alfred Wetzler (b. 1918, no. 29162) escaped from the German Nazi Auschwitz camp. Read their story in this thread ⬇️ ImageImage
In the second half of the 1943 Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler decided to escape. In the BIII sector, so-called Mexico, which was under construction at the time, they spent many days preparing a hiding place (bunker) for themselves. Image
Their activity was not discovered by the SS men, as the area was surrounded by a multitude of different construction materials, with which they could conceal the works conducted by them. Image
Read 9 tweets
6 Apr
6 April 1941 | A transport of 1,021 Poles (including 39 Jews) arrived at #Auschwitz from #Pawiak prison in #Warsaw. Among them were: an actor Stefan Jaracz (no. 13580) and a theater director Leon Schiller (13581). They were both later released from the camp.
Stefan Jaracz was born in Żukowice Stare. He was one of the most eminent Polish theater and film actors. Imprisoned at #Auschwitz on 6 April 1941 (no. 13580). On 15 May 1941, he was released from the camp. More about his life: culture.pl/en/artist/stef…
Leon Schiller, one of the most eminent Polish theater directors, became a prisoner of #Auschwitz on 6 April 1942. He received number 13581. After a year - thanks to bribery - he was released from the camp. More about his life: culture.pl/en/artist/leon…
Read 4 tweets
24 Mar
Jozef & Wiktoria Ulma risked their lives to help Jews during the #Holocaust. On 24 March 1944 the German police discovered the Jews in hiding.

The Jewish family was shot, as was the entire Ulma family - parents & 6 children. Wiktoria was 7 months pregnant.
March 24 - the anniversary of the murder of the Ulma family - is today in Poland the National Day of Remembrance of Poles who saved Jews during German occupiation. See this thread to learn 11 stories of #Righteous linked with #Auschwitz.
#Auschwitz prisoner Jerzy Radwanek helped many Jews in the camp. jfr.org/rescuer-storie…
Read 16 tweets
22 Mar
22 March 1943 | The Zentralbauleitung of the #Auschwitz camp (Central Construction office) completed the construction of gas chamber and crematorium IV at Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. The undressing rooms, gas chamber and crematorium were located on the ground level. 1/5
The gas chamber space was divided into three smaller rooms and had a total of 236.78 square meters. The exterior walls had holes with gas proof trapdoors for inserting Zyklon B. 2/5
The crematorium was equipped with one eight-oven furnace. According to the calculations made German manufacturer Topf & Soehne, 768 corpses could be burned in this crematorium every 24 hours. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
15 Mar
15 March 1948 | District Military Court in Warsaw sentenced to death Col. Witold Pilecki, officer active in the underground. In 1940 he voluntarily submitted to arrest & deportation to the German Auschwitz camp to gather information about the camp. He was executed on 25 May 1948. Image
Learn more about Witold Pilecki and Polish military resistance movement at KL Auschwitz google.com/culturalinstit… Image
"I've been trying to live my life so that in the hour of my death I would rather feel joy, than fear."
(Witold Pilecki)

Read the report written by #Pilecki after his escape from #Auschwitz with very powerful final words directed to the reader: rtmpilecki.eu/raport-3/ ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
12 Mar
12 March 1943 | 14-year old Polish girl Czesława Kwoka (camp no. 26947) was murdered in #Auschwitz with a phenol injection into the heart. She was deported by Germans from Zamość region as part of their plan of creating „living space” in the east. [Thread 1/4]
According to the testimony of a survivor Wilhelm Brasse, who took the registration picture of Czesława Kwoka, just before it was taken, the girl was beaten by one of the guards. In the picture, you can see the cut in her lip. 2/4
Czesława Kwoka was born on 15 August 1928 in Wólka Złojecka, a village in region. She arrived at #Auschwitz on 13 December 1942 in a transport of 318 women. Her mother Katarzyna was also deported. She received number 26949 & perished in the camp on 18 February 1943. 3/4
Read 4 tweets

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