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Jewish prisoners arrive at the Drancy camp by bus (between 1942-1944).
(Photo courtesy of DIZ Muenchen GMBH, Sueddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst / USHMM)
In August 1941, an internment and transit camp for foreign-born Jews in France was established in Drancy, a northeastern suburb six miles outside of Paris. The camp was housed in a multi-story building that had once served as housing and then a police barracks before the war. Barbed wire surrounded the perimeter of the camp and watchtowers flanked the corners. There was a large assembly area in a courtyard in the center of the camp.
Located in the northern occupied zone of France, Drancy was administered by French police personnel until it came under administration by the German Security Police in July 1943. SS Officer Alois Brunner then became commandant of the camp.
Between August 1941 and August 1944, approximately 70,000 prisoners – predominantly Jews – passed through the camp at different points during its existence. Only a few thousand prisoners managed to secure release in the first year of the camp’s operation.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans began to liquidate the camp and deport the Jews from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The first transport for Auschwitz from Drancy left on June 22, 1942. On July 16 and 17, 1942, more than 13,000 Jews were rounded up by French police and locked in the Vélodrome d’Hiver, a sports arena in Paris. After being held there for several days without food or water, they were transported to Drancy (among other camps) and from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Most of the Jews who had been locked up in and deported from Drancy were foreign born, having immigrated to France in the 1920s and 1930s. In total, 64 transports of 64,759 Jews left Drancy for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Nearly 4,000 Jews were transported from Drancy to the Sobibor death camp. With the approach of Allied forces, German authorities fled the camp on August 15-16, 1944.
Fewer than 2,000 Jews who had been deported from the Drancy camp survived. Today, much of the camp is no longer standing. A memorial stands on the former assembly area of the camp.
When discussing this topic with your students, you may wish to explore the conditions Jews faced in the Drancy camp. There are numerous personal accounts available on the internet that describe the ordeals prisoners faced in the camp and during and after their transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau. For example, click here to read Ernest Koenig’s account of the dismal living quarters in Drancy. After exploring testimonies like Mr. Koenig’s, you might discuss the following with your students: Why were the conditions in camps such as Drancy so terrible? How were Jews dehumanized in Drancy? How did Jewish prisoners cope?
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