Transport 32, Train 901/27 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 14/09/1942

Beginning on September 4, 1942, all the Jews who were arrested in the south of France and those who were incarcerated in other camps were sent to Rivesaltes in preparation for their deportation to Drancy and eventually to Auschwitz. Thus, Rivesaltes in the south of France fulfilled a function similar to that of Drancy in the occupied zone. The Jews were usually arrested at home, as Simon Grinbaud related in his memoirs. Simon, who was born in Poland, immigrated to Paris with his family before the beginning of the war. Unlike his parents and sisters, Simon had successfully evaded prior raids, but he and his brother Henri were arrested in the unoccupied zone (zone libre) on August 26, 1942. Some two weeks after their arrival in Drancy, they were both sent to Auschwitz on the 32nd transport on September 14, 1942. Grinbaud described his arrest and deportation: “Very early in the morning, there was a knock at the door, when I opened it I found my uncle Glasman trembling, accompanied by two policemen, one of which was a constable, holding a list.” Grinbaud and his brother were ordered "to take each a blanket, a cutlery, and come with them." After their arrest, they were taken to the police station and from there to a local assembly point. “a covered truck waited for us, ready to move.” The Jews did not receive any provisions after they were loaded onto the trucks and they did not know where they were going until they managed to get one of the border patrolmen who accompanied the transport to reveal their destination. They arrived at the Camp du Textile in the city of Montlucon in the Department of Allier after dark. Of the 150 Jews incarcerated in the camp, 143 were deported. The head of general intelligence in Allier reported:...