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are exceptions, we have used Yiddish names for
children born in Poland, when we knew them, and French names for children born
in France, when these were listed or when we found them in verifying documents.
The French spelling of a number of Yiddish first names varies considerably. As
with last names, we have retained the spelling in written documents rather than
impose standardization. We found some first names on deportation lists that we
did not recognize, either because they were misspelled or because they were
original creations of parents that had been accepted by civil authorities.
These names were also retained as found.
In some cases, particularly
but not exclusively in the convoys sent to Bergen-Belsen in May and July 1944,
documents listed a name followed by the notation "child." That designation has
been kept, as have the notations of children without family names, typically
described as "Child without identity" or "Child Number 126." We must assume
there were more unidentified children than the lists indicate; several children
whose deportation has been authenticated are not found on the deportation
lists.
Dates of
Birth
This volume includes only children who
were under 18 years of age on the day of their deportation. Thus, the dates of
birth of these children may range from March 27, 1924 (for those who were 18 on
the date of the first convoy from France), to August 22, 1944 (the date of the
last convoy, sent from Clermont- Ferrand). To the best of our knowledge, this
rule has only one exception – Louise Jacobson, whose personal testimony
was particularly important. She was arrested at 17 and was imprisoned for
nearly six months before being deported after her 18th birthday. But her
letters from Fresnes Prison, a sampling of which are included with her
photograph, were written while she was still 17.
There are a number of
cases in which only a child's birth year is known. Since the demands of
computerization require a full date, these children have been assigned a
fictional birth date of January 1 of the year indicated. Thus, 01.01.38
indicates only that the child was born in 1938.
Comparisons of the
deportation lists held by the Veterans Ministry with those held by the CDJC
allowed us to find some missing birth dates, and thus to identify some
deportees as children. For example, many hundreds of deportees were chosen in
haste and disorder for transfer to Drancy from camps in the Vichy Zone between
August and October 1942. They were listed by name but without birth dates or
birthplaces. We had been unable to fill in these blanks in the 1978
Mémorial, and therefore did not know which of these victims were
children.
In 1989, to support an action against René Bousquet,
former Vichy head (Secretary General) of the National Police, seeking his
retrial on charges of crimes against humanity, I introduced new evidence that
had not been used when he was tried in 1949. The key evidence was the text of a
telegram Bousquet sent on August 18, 1942, to all prefects of departments in
the Unoccupied Zone. In it, he informed the prefects he was ending a number of
exemptions from arrest and deportation, among them some rules protecting
children of specific ages. Use of the telegram as evidence required a
supporting list of Jewish children
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FRENCH
CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST A memorial
Serge Klarsfeld
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