Figure 1.--This is Liliane Gerenstein with her doll at Drancy after being arrested by Klaus Barbie in 1944 and awaiting transport to Auschwitz. She was picked up by Klaus Barbie just weeks before D-Dy.

A group of Jewish children were being cared for in a children's home set up in a Catholic refectory located in the sleepy village of Izieu. The village overlooks the Rhone river, sutuated between Lyon and Chambery in central France. The children were 5-17 years old. They felt safe and secure in such auiet out of way village. They were being cared for by seven adults. Tragically someone had reforned on them. Just weeks before D-Day as the children sat down to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, three vehicles, including trucks, pulled up in front of the home without warning (April 6, 1944). An armed German unit led by the 'Butcher of Lyon' Klaus Barbie rushed into the home and forced the 44 terrified children and their 7 care takers into the trucks. The younger childrn were thrown in like 'like sacks of potatoes'. One survivor reports, "I was on my way down the stairs when my sister shouted to me: It's the Germans, save yourself! I jumped out the window. I hid myself in a bush in the garden. I heard the cries of the children that were being kidnapped and I heard the shouts of the Nazis who were carrying them away.' The remains of a letter written by Liliane Gerenstein was found later at Drancy. "God? After that, I ask You one thing only: Make my parents come back, my poor parents protect them (even more than You protect me) so that I can see them again as soon as possible. Make them come back again. Ah! I had such a good mother and such a good father! I have such faith in You and I thank You in advance." Soon after she wrote this, she and the other children from Izieu were transported to Auschwitz and gassed.

Created: 10:42 PM 11/2/2015
Last updated: 10:42 PM 11/2/2015