Transport 49 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 02/03/1943

On December 19, 1942, Adolf Eichmann, head of the Department of Jewish Affairs (IV B 4) at the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office, Reichsicherheitshauptamt) consulted with Knochen regarding the possibility of resuming the deportation of the Jews residing in France in the early months of the coming year. On December 31 Knochen replied that the deportations would resume in mid-February or early March 1943, but that the scope of these deportations was currently unknown. On February 9, 1943, 84 employees of the local branch of the UGIF in Lyon (Union générale des Israélites de France - General Union of Jews in France) located on Sainte Catherine Street were arrested by local Sipo-SD forces commanded by Klaus Barbie, and were transferred to Drancy. That same day, head of the Department of Jewish Affairs at the Sipo-SD in France Heinz Roethke ordered the heads of the French police to arrest Jews with foreign nationalities regardless of their age, after he had learned from Bousquet that no agreement had yet been reached regarding the arrest of Jews with French citizenship. On the night of February 10, 1,549 Jews were arrested throughout Paris. Over 1,550 French policemen participated in the operation. Among those arrested were more than 440 elderly Jews aged over 70, and more than 680 aged over 60. Additionally, the police arrested 30 sick individuals. The arrests also targeted numerous children: at the Guy de Rothschild, Lamark, and Guy Patin orphanges, 44 children were arrested at 06:30 that day, one of whom was four years old. At 01:00 in the night, 4 young girls were arrested as well. They were all transferred to Drancy....