The deportation of Jewish children: the Vichy internment camp in Pithiviers

The deportation of Jewish children: the Vichy internment camp in Pithiviers

After the HIV round-up, the Vichy government parked over 4,000 Jews at Pithiviers station. Jean Leguay, then French police chief, asked the German occupier for permission to deport the children, who had been separated from their mothers. From August to September 1942, 2,000 children were confined in the Pithiviers internment camp under the supervision of the French police, in appalling health conditions. Doctor Henri RUSSAK, himself detained, testifies to their state of health and the indifference of the gendarmes. A inhabitant of Pithiviers, Joseph BAUDOIN, recounts the tears in his eyes having seen the convoy of children sent for deportation. A few period photographs and images of the place illustrate the journalist’s remarks and punctuate the interviews.

02

 

min

 

22

 

sec

File : Roundup of the Winter Velodrome

Publication date : 28 April 1990