Transport from Pithiviers, Camp, France to Drancy, Camp, France on 15/08/1942

On August 15, 1942, a transport departed from the Pithiviers camp to Drancy with a total of 1,277 Jews, among them 1,054 children. Some of the deportees had been transferred from the Beaune-la-Rolande to the Pithiviers camp to be included in the transport. The train was provided by the SNCF (la Société nationale des chemins de fer français, the French National Railway Company) An eyewitness, who remains anonymous, recorded the events of that day. He recalled the children being accompanied by an insufficient number of Red Cross assistants as they walked to the train barely able to carry their heavy suitcases. At the station, the deportees were crammed into cattle cars. As was expressed in a letter one of the deportees wrote to his father: “To get here (Drancy) we travelled in cattle cars, we were many in each car.” Annette Krajner, 14 at the time, was with her sister on board this transport: “No special arrangements were made for the children; the cars were closed from the outside. The conditions were horrible owing to the heat, the thirst, the number of children with diarrhoea, the long journey with many stops, the ignorance of our destination, and the absence of parents among the children.” When the train arrived at the station the children were boarded onto buses of the STCRP (Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne, the Parisian public transport company), and driven directly to the Drancy camp....