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The Bobigny departures, 1943-1944 | Ancienne Gare de déportation de Bobigny

A place where history was made

The Bobigny departures, 1943-1944

The choice of Bobigny station

In June 1943, the arrival in France of a commando led by Aloïs Brunner, who just organized the deportation of 43,000 Jews from Salonika, will modify the deportation procedures.
First of all, he took control of the camp administration at Drancy; the French police from now on were only made responsible for external security. He modifies the departure 'ritual', to make it seem like a 'normal' transfer to the East, no more bodily searches, allowing luggage, etc. In July 1943, he chose Bobigny station to now form convoys for the 'final solution'. 

Brunner undoubtedly considered the Bobigny station more practical (with its long siding track to which vehicles could access directly) and perhaps more discreet. In contrast to Le Bourget station, the passenger traffic there had been stopped. Not any further away from the Cité de la Muette, it also had the advantage of not changing the route of the convoys, those formed in Le Bourget-Drancy were already coming through Bobigny before joining the Eastern network. The Bobigny location was probably also less affected by the allied bombings than Le Bourget.

  • Testimony of Claude Tartas, who lived as a child at Bobigny station where his father was a railwayman (1mn 23) © Ville de Bobigny

22 500 French Jews deported from Bobigny, July 1943 - August 1944

The invasion of the Italian zone by the Germans in September 1943, and the order given by Vichy to the prefects in January 1944 to provide the Nazis with lists of all Jews, including French Jews, allowed the formation of new convoys: 21 000 Jews were deported from France between September 1943 and August 1944, including nearly 11,000 in just four months, from February to May 1944.
All convoys headed in the direction of Auschwitz-Birkenau, except one: the convoy No. 73 composed of 878 men, which took a direction leading to the Baltic countries: Kaunas in Lithuania for a part of the way, then Tallinn in Estonia for another. It is possible that these men were used to hide the traces of the genocide.

The last major convoy of the 'final solution' was run from Drancy on July 31, 1944 with nearly 1,300 Jews, including 330 children. On that date, the Allies had just pierced the Normandy front at Avranches. 
On August 17, a few days before the Liberation of Paris, Brunner left France from Bobigny, taking with him as hostages 51 of the last remaining prisoners from Drancy. The next day the camp was liberated: there were only 1,400 inmates still left there.

The formation of convoys

When deportation was first considered, in conjunction with Eichmann's Office in Berlin, it was the German Jewish Affairs Office in Paris that arranged it all. They established a list chosen from among the inmates of Drancy and then requested a train be made ready.
Since the first deportations of French Jews in 1942, the standard was to use convoys of twenty to twenty-five rail wagons to carry one thousand prisoners, or on average fifty people per wagon. The Nazi police were responsible for escorting the deportation transport. When the convoys were formed at the Bobigny station, an escort of one officer and twenty men came from Germany, usually the day before the departure. They would inspect the train lined up at the Bobigny station. They could order the replacement of a wagon, and have it garnished with strands of barbed wire.

« The convoy consisted of 1,000 Jews of both sexes, especially women and children. I had at my disposal 25 freight wagons. I used 20 of the wagons in better condition for the Jews and put 50 in each railway wagon. In the remaining wagons, I put the men’s luggage and supplies. […] The three passenger wagons were placed at the front, in the middle, and at the rear of the train. German and French escort commandos were also dispersed among these wagons. »

The role of the SNCF (French National Railway)

In parallel with the establishment of the convoy's list, it was also necessary to arrange the set-up of the train. The SNCF provided the men and equipment. As with the other French administrations and national companies, the SNCF was required to maintain the position of the French Government, above all to the terms of the armistice signed at Rethondes. Article 13 of the text placed the French railways, in fact, at the disposal of the occupying force. The Germans therefore gave and controlled the carrying out of the orders given to the SNCF.

Thus, when a massive deportation convoy was formed, the German Ministry of Transport gave its destination and timetable to its branch in Paris. Paris had to go through the SNCF to meet these demands, who would then put together the necessary locomotives, wagons and personal to drive the train up to the border of the Reich, i.e. usually to Noveant in annexed Moselle, where German railwaymen would replace their French counterparts.

« All French railway organizations [...] located in the territory occupied by German troops are to be made fully available to the German head of transportation. He is entitled to take all measures deemed necessary according to the needs of operation and traffic. »

Section 13 of the Armistice Agreement of June 22, 1940