www.german-foreign-policy.com

Eleven thousand Children

13.01.2005

BERLIN/PARIS (Own report)

More than sixty years after the death transports of Jewish children to the Auschwitz extermination camp, the Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railroad Corp.) refuses to allow commemoration of the murdered children in the former transit stations of the deportation trains. A decision sent from Berlin, to this effect was received by the French organization ,,Fils et Filles des Deportés Juifs de France"/FFDJF (Sons and Daughters of Deported Jews of France) in December. The organization had solicited the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) for space for a photo exhibition about the fate of 11,000 children deported by train. They were sent by rail over the 52 hour journey leading from Drancy, (near Paris) via Saarbrucken, Homburg, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Frankfort, Fulda and Dresden directly to Auschwitz. The transfer logistics of the death transports were assumed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, of which, today, the DB AG is the successor. As the DB AG explains in a written statement, in the possession of german-foreign-policy.com, the DB AG ,,lacks"both the necessary ,,personnel and the financial resources"to undertake the proposed exhibition. ,,The enterprise is sponsoring the Soccer World Championship 2006, with lots of money"and is using implausible excuses, Ms. Beate Klarsfeld, member of the FFDJF says in an interview with german-foreign-policy.com.

Last year, the exhibition was displayed in France in numerous train stations, along the route of the death transport with the schedule number ,,DA-901". ¹⁾At the inaugurations of the exhibition, there were emotional scenes when the visitors commemorated the victims - among them some 520 children of German emigrants in France - who, over the rails of the German Reichsbahn, were abducted to Auschwitz, where they were immediately killed. Altogether more than 80,000 French deportees perished in German extermination camps. The number of those deported to their deaths in Germany with the Reichsbahn runs into the hundreds of thousands.

Responsibility

On its premises throughout the country, the French state-owned railway (SNCF) provided space for the exhibition, to allow visits by relatives, school classes and travelers. In his inauguration address at the Parisian Northern railway station (Gare du Nord), the chairman of the SNCF acknowledged the responsibility of the French state-owned railway for its participation in the deportation of Jewish children. ²⁾He explained that even though employees of the French railway organized the transport to the German border, members of the German Reichsbahn took over from there. ³⁾Under their control the death trains with thousands of children crossed Germany.

Refused

Contrary to the SNCF, the DB AG refuses to document the complicity of its predecessor for the mass murder at the scenes of the crime and refers to a local railway museum in Nuremberg. A nation-wide touring exhibition on the premises of the DB AG is out of the question. In a letter of its ,,Communications"Department (dated December 17, 2004), the DB AG writes that the content of the exhibition of the French FFDJF would have to be altered. Already earlier the DB AG had turned down an offer of the ,,Christian-Jewish Working Group"in Hesse and would not tolerate the establishment of a memorial in the central station of the city of Hanau. ⁴⁾The Deutsche Reichsbahn's central junction for the human transfer was the nearby city of Frankfort (platform South, arrival 07:24, departure 07:46). From there the death trains with the Jewish children travelled via Hanau to the East. Numerous death transports of German Jews were also carried out through the Frankfort station.

Right of Commemoration

,,The French put their train stations at our disposal for the exhibitions three years ago. Now the DB AG is coming with completely different reactions: We don't have any money, we don't have the space ...,"says Ms. Beate Klarsfeld in an interview with german-foreign-policy.com. The marginalization of the exhibition is unacceptable and does not do justice to the importance of the mass murder of 11,000 children. Ms. Klarsfeld, who has been engaged in numerous activities of the FFDJF to punish Nazi culprits and commemorate the victims, is hoping for reactions in Germany, so that the exhibition can still take place. ,,Whoever wants to commemorate (in Germany) has the right to do it. Commemoration cannot be forbidden."

Protests

After the DB AG's refusal became known - just a few weeks preceding the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp - the initial protest letters began arriving at the enterprise. For example, a teacher from southern Germany writes, that the reason given by the corporation, worth billions, that it lacks ,,the financial resources"for an exhibition ready to be used, is ,,more than flimsy". ⁵⁾ ,,It is a scandal that the DB AG (...) refuses such an exhibition in German train stations (...) on the grounds of implausible arguments"the letter of protest reads.

1) Horaire prévu des trains de déportation à partir du 1er novembre 1943 (planned schedule of the deportation trains starting November 1, 1943)
2) Gare du Nord, l'hommage aux enfants juifs déportés; Le Monde 17.07.2004
3) Bulletin de liaison des FFDJF No. 87, Nov-Déc 2004
4) Franzoesische Bahn laesst Gedenkorte zu; Frankfurter Rundschau 20.11.2003
5) Letter dated December 17, 2004


	Eleven thousand Children 13.01.2005 BERLIN/PARIS (Own report) More than sixty years after the death transports of Jewish children to the Auschwitz extermination camp, the Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railroad Corp.) refuses to allow commemoration of the murdered children in the former transit stations of the deportation trains. A decision sent from Berlin, to this effect was received by the French organization ,,Fils et Filles des Deportés Juifs de France"/FFDJF (Sons and Daughters of Deported Jews of France) in December. The organization had solicited the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) for space for a photo exhibition about the fate of 11,000 children deported by train. They were sent by rail over the 52 hour journey leading from Drancy, (near Paris) via Saarbrucken, Homburg, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Frankfort, Fulda and Dresden directly to Auschwitz. The transfer logistics of the death transports were assumed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn, of which, today, the DB AG is the successor. As the DB AG explains in a written statement, in the possession of german-foreign-policy.com, the DB AG ,,lacks"both the necessary ,,personnel and the financial resources"to undertake the proposed exhibition. ,,The enterprise is sponsoring the Soccer World Championship 2006, with lots of money"and is using implausible excuses, Ms. Beate Klarsfeld, member of the FFDJF says in an interview with german-foreign-policy.com. Last year, the exhibition was displayed in France in numerous train stations, along the route of the death transport with the schedule number ,,DA-901". ¹⁾At the inaugurations of the exhibition, there were emotional scenes when the visitors commemorated the victims - among them some 520 children of German emigrants in France - who, over the rails of the German Reichsbahn, were abducted to Auschwitz, where they were immediately killed. Altogether more than 80,000 French deportees perished in German extermination camps. The number of those deported to their deaths in Germany with the Reichsbahn runs into the hundreds of thousands. Responsibility On its premises throughout the country, the French state-owned railway (SNCF) provided space for the exhibition, to allow visits by relatives, school classes and travelers. In his inauguration address at the Parisian Northern railway station (Gare du Nord), the chairman of the SNCF acknowledged the responsibility of the French state-owned railway for its participation in the deportation of Jewish children. ²⁾He explained that even though employees of the French railway organized the transport to the German border, members of the German Reichsbahn took over from there. ³⁾Under their control the death trains with thousands of children crossed Germany. Refused Contrary to the SNCF, the DB AG refuses to document the complicity of its predecessor for the mass murder at the scenes of the crime and refers to a local railway museum in Nuremberg. A nation-wide touring exhibition on the premises of the DB AG is out of the question. In a letter of its ,,Communications"Department (dated December 17, 2004), the DB AG writes that the content of the exhibition of the French FFDJF would have to be altered. Already earlier the DB AG had turned down an offer of the ,,Christian-Jewish Working Group"in Hesse and would not tolerate the establishment of a memorial in the central station of the city of Hanau. ⁴⁾The Deutsche Reichsbahn's central junction for the human transfer was the nearby city of Frankfort (platform South, arrival 07:24, departure 07:46). From there the death trains with the Jewish children travelled via Hanau to the East. Numerous death transports of German Jews were also carried out through the Frankfort station. Right of Commemoration ,,The French put their train stations at our disposal for the exhibitions three years ago. Now the DB AG is coming with completely different reactions: We don't have any money, we don't have the space ...,"says Ms. Beate Klarsfeld in an interview with german-foreign-policy.com. The marginalization of the exhibition is unacceptable and does not do justice to the importance of the mass murder of 11,000 children. Ms. Klarsfeld, who has been engaged in numerous activities of the FFDJF to punish Nazi culprits and commemorate the victims, is hoping for reactions in Germany, so that the exhibition can still take place. ,,Whoever wants to commemorate (in Germany) has the right to do it. Commemoration cannot be forbidden." Protests After the DB AG's refusal became known - just a few weeks preceding the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp - the initial protest letters began arriving at the enterprise. For example, a teacher from southern Germany writes, that the reason given by the corporation, worth billions, that it lacks ,,the financial resources"for an exhibition ready to be used, is ,,more than flimsy". ⁵⁾ ,,It is a scandal that the DB AG (...) refuses such an exhibition in German train stations (...) on the grounds of implausible arguments"the letter of protest reads. 1) Horaire prévu des trains de déportation à partir du 1er novembre 1943 (planned schedule of the deportation trains starting November 1, 1943) 2) Gare du Nord, l'hommage aux enfants juifs déportés; Le Monde 17.07.2004 3) Bulletin de liaison des FFDJF No. 87, Nov-Déc 2004 4) Franzoesische Bahn laesst Gedenkorte zu; Frankfurter Rundschau 20.11.2003 5) Letter dated December 17, 2004