Transport from Rivesaltes, Camp, France to Drancy, Camp, France on 01/09/1942

The transport of September 1 was made up of 749 deportees. Most had been detained during the mass arrests of August 26 in the regions of Montpellier and Marseille. A total of 175 Jews were arrested in Montpellier and detained in the Rivesaltes camp, and 574 were arrested in the Marseille region and detained in the Milles camp. Two transports were organized, one from each camp, and were joined at Châteauneuf-du-Pape from where the train continued towards the occupied zone. A report written by the OSE (Oeuvre de secours aux enfants, Jewish Children’s Relief Organization) describes the atmosphere in the Rivesaltes camp during the days leading up to the deportation. The report indicates that several children who had previously been liberated from the camp were brought back during the last week of August to be reunited with their families and deported with them. One morning nearly 100 children were gathered with the adults in a separate section of the camp in preparation for the transport. The report indicated that several young women were able to evade deportation by donning nurses uniforms. Several other adults also succeeded in escaping from the camp. Despite the efforts made by the OSE to have the children excluded from this transport they were only able to save approximately 20 by describing them as ‘deficient’. In total, 82 children were deported from Rivesaltes on September 1. Rabbi Israel Salzer worked for the General Chaplaincy that was responsible for assisting the foreign Jews detained in the camps, and was present in Milles prior to the deportation from the camp. Salzer reported that after the mass arrests of August 26, the camp was once again filled with Jews. Every ten minutes a bus arrived at the camp with Jews who had been lately arrested including men, women and children. Salzer reported the arrival of one bus with three sick women who had been taken from the hospital and brought into the camp. On the afternoon of September 1 the call-up began and lasted late into the night as reported by Salzer: “In the early hours of the morning, a terrible scene occurred: because they did not have enough Jews to fill the 2 or 3 cattle cars, all men and women were forced to come down into the courtyard and additional deportees were chosen to fill the transport, some were not even dressed.” The train from the Milles departed on September 2 at 08:20 with a total of 574 Jews....