Transport 66 from Drancy, Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau, Extermination Camp, Poland on 20/01/1944

The transport left from the Paris-Bobigny train station on January 20, 1944, with 1,153 deportees. Most of the deportees were of French nationality. This particular transport was made up as a result of the many arrests of individuals as well as families that took place in December 1943, in more than 50 districts (départements): in the region of Paris, in the Southeast, in Lyon, and in Bordeaux. The deportation of all the Jews residing in France, without regard to their nationality, was first fully implemented with this transport. The arrests were carried out by French and German police, and the speed by which those interned were deported marked a change in the frequency of deportations from that transport on. Most of the January 20, 1944, deportees were arrested at the end of December and the beginning of January and spent very little time in Drancy. From January 1, 1944, René Bousquet no longer served as secretary-general of the Vichy government police. Bousquet had attempted to maintain the autonomy of the French police in connection with the arrests and had delayed the enforcement of deportation measures against Jews with French nationality. From then on, the post was held by Joseph Darnand, who established the French militia, was an honorary officer in the Waffen-SS, and was fervently anti-Jewish. From January 1944, the arrests of the Jews were carried out conjointly by the French and German police, with active collaboration by the militia, and were beyond the control of the regional prefects. The intensification of the arrests from January 1944 was particularly apparent in Bordeaux. These arrests were reported in the 1998 trial of Maurice Papon. A total of 317 Jews were taken in Bordeaux on January 10, 1944, and locked up in the city’s synagogue until January 12. They were then transferred from the Bordeaux –Saint Jean train station to Bobigny, in 24 cattle cars, escorted by 44 French and German policemen, for the 25-hour journey....