Transport 38 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 28/09/1942

Beginning on September 4, 1942, the Rivesaltes camp in the south of France fulfilled a function similar to that of Drancy in the occupied zone: all the Jews who were arrested in the south or who were incarcerated in other camps were sent to Rivesaltes in preparation for their deportation to Drancy and eventually to Auschwitz. On September 8, 1942, Jean Leguay, second in Command at the French National Police in the occupied zone, met with Heinz Roethke, Dannecker’s successor as head of the Jewish Affairs Department at the French Sipo-SD , and confirmed that 7,000 arrests had been made in the unoccupied zone. Thus, he added, the French authorities could guarantee enough Jews to meet the transport quotas only until September 14; afterwards, the number of Jews available for deportation would not suffice. In response, Röthke said that the original plan—seven transports departing on September 15–30—would proceed in any case; if necessary, additional arrests would be made and the 4,000 Jews interned in camps in the occupied zone would be deported as well. To meet this quota, Röthke advised his superiors on September 12 that 3,000 additional Jews would have to be found. On September 21, Roethke planned to arrest more than 5,000 French Jews he deemed “wealthy and influential.” Helmut Knochen, head of the Sipo-SD in France and Roethke’s superior, did not give his approval, whereupon Roethke took the initiative to arrest 76 working-class Jews on September 22–23. Samuel Adoner, who came to Paris with his family from Poland in the early 1920s, was arrested together with all the inhabitants of the buildings at la rue des deux ponts 10/12 on September 23. In his testimony he noted: “While 12 armed men were patrolling in the yard, two Feldgendarmes blocked the building entrance, and Sipo-SD agents entered the apartments to check our papers.” From the street, the tenants were transported by cars and buses to the police station in the Fourth Arrondissement. The next day, they were taken to Drancy. While standing on the open platform at the rear end of the bus, Samuel and his friend contemplated jumping off, but Samuel’s father insisted that they all stay together....