Established in 1871, Le Bourget-Drancy station was the main point of departure for the deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau between March 1942 and June 1943, with 40,450 Jewish men and women deported from the station out of 74,000 deported from all over France.

Find out more about the location

Gare du Bourget-Drancy

1942-1943, deportation site of Jews from France

History

Bourget-Drancy station, June 22, 1942. A convoy of 996 Jews begins its murderous journey to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. This was the third convoy of Jews to leave France, following those of March 27, 1942 and June 5, 1942. The first two convoys were made up of internees from the Drancy and Compiègne camps. While some of the deportees boarded the station at Le Bourget, the real departure was from the second camp. June 22 was the first convoy to go directly to Auschwitz from the Le Bourget-Drancy station.

The choice of departure point was linked to the function of the deportations. The first departures were part of a “hostage policy” aimed at mass deportation to dissuade the Resistance from continuing its actions against the Nazi occupiers. Many of the hostages were Jews. At the beginning of June 1942, a different deportation policy began to emerge: the aim was to organize the “evacuation” of French Jews as part of the “Final Solution”, i.e. their murder by deportation.

A station near a camp

Georges Horan-Koiransky, \\ — Georges Horan-Koiransky, print \"Arrival of the children\", Le Camp de Drancy, threshold of Jewish hell, 1947. Private collection / AD de la Seine-Saint-Denis.

Because of its proximity to the Drancy camp, the Le Bourget-Drancy station occupied a central position in this new deportation system. The Cité de la Muette in Drancy was chosen as the main assembly camp for French Jews rounded up from all over France. As a result, the Bourget-Drancy railway station became the main departure point for the deportation.

Each deportation follows a similar pattern. The deportees are isolated on the eve of departure, then gathered at around 5 a.m. in the Drancy camp, and transferred by bus to the station, where they are gradually crammed into the 20 to 25 wagons of the convoy, with at least 50 per wagon. The deportation convoys depart from the old 19th-century “quai aux moutons”, in the goods area opposite the passenger station. The Jews were deposited on the bus-accessible Place de la Grande ceinture, located at the center of a railway triangle. The deportation is not hidden, as commuter trains continue to run on the parallel tracks. Luggage and food rations are loaded separately. At around 9 a.m., the train departs “eastbound”, via the Grande ceinture and the Noisy-le-Sec marshalling yard, for a 3-day, 3-night journey. The destination is Auschwitz-Birkenau, with the exception of 4 convoys bound for the Sobibor killing center.

A station well served by the rail network

Providing access to the eastern rail routes, this station was considered strategic by the Nazis. In addition to its proximity to the Drancy camp, the station was at the heart of a major railway complex. It is both a passenger and freight station, and at the confluence of the Chemin de fer du Nord and Grande Ceinture lines, forming a vast rail ring around the capital.

Postcard of Le Bourget-Drancy station, circa 1910 — The Le Bourget-Drancy station has a succession of three bridges, road and rail. This postcard, \"Le Bourget - La gare vue des ponts\", circa 1910, shows the Grande Ceinture railway station on the right. Éditions Duberne, Archives départementales de la Seine-Saint-Denis.

Postcard of Le Bourget marshalling yard, circa 1910 — Postcard \"Entrée de la gare de triage du Bourget\", circa 1910 © ELD, Archives départementales de la Seine-Saint-Denis.

Internment and systematic deportation of Jews

The Le Bourget-Drancy station was one of the major sites used to implement the Nazis' genocidal policy. The persecution of the Jews reached a turning point on July 16 and 17, 1942, the dates of the huge “Vél‘ d'hiv’ round-up” in Paris, when 12,884 Jews were arrested. Of these, 8,160 were locked up in the velodrome on rue Nélaton in Paris's 15th arrondissement, nicknamed the Vel' d'hiv', before being transferred to camps in the Loiret region (Beaune-la-Rolande, Pithiviers)... The rest were sent directly to the Drancy camp. Deportation to the killing centers began on July 17 from the Beaune and Pithiviers stations, and from Le Bourget-Drancy.

Round-ups followed throughout the country. During the summer and early autumn of 1942, a convoy of around 1,000 people left every 2 or 3 days. From August 10, 1942, the Bourget-Drancy station became the only departure point. This pattern did not end until September 30, 1942. 15 convoys followed between November and June 1943, before the station was abandoned in favor of Bobigny.

Transfers between camps in France

Quai aux moutons — The only known photograph of the freight quay known as the \"quai aux moutons\" before its destruction (undated). It was recovered by Abbé Liegibel © Ville de Drancy, Fonds Liegibel.

Le Bourget-Drancy station was also used for internal transfers within occupied and non-occupied France, from the various camps spread across the country. With the collaboration of the Vichy government, internees arrived here from camps in the south of France between August and October 1942, or from camps in the Loiret region. This was the inhuman fate reserved for children arrested during the Vél' d'hiv' roundup, who were not deported with their parents from the Loiret camps in July 1942, but were eventually transferred to Drancy via Le Bourget, then deported in convoys with other adults at the end of August 1942, again via Le Bourget.

From June 1943, the Le Bourget-Drancy station was no longer used for deportations, which were then organized from the Bobigny station.

To remember

Le Bourget-Drancy was the main station for deporting Jews to Auschwitz. It operated between March 1942 and June 1943.
It was chosen by the Nazis because of its proximity to the Drancy camp and its strategic position in the rail network.
Deportation convoys were carried out in freight trains departing from the quai aux moutons.
Of the 74,000 Jews deported from France, 40,450 were deported from Le Bourget Drancy station.

Memory

"La voie d'embarquement a disparu", a series of photographs of the Bourget-Drancy station taken by Abbé Liegibel, circa 1976, recording the destruction of the last freight platform when the tracks were modernized to accommodate the RER B. Ville de Drancy, Liegibel collection.

The memory of the Bourget-Drancy station has been built up mainly from the Drancy camp. A memory of the site itself has had, and still has, difficulty in emerging. We speak of the Bourget-Drancy station and rarely of the “former Bourget-Drancy deportation station”, as is the case for the Bobigny station. The destruction of the “quai aux moutons”, from which departures were made, and the daily use of this station to this day, is surely one of the explanations. But this memory deficit has existed since 1945.

At the end of the war, Le Bourget station was not included in the first memorial ceremonies. In the spring of 1964, the town of Drancy and a number of associations launched a project to create a memorial site for the Cité de la Muette. That same year, the French Ministry of Veterans Affairs decided to commemorate the 50th anniversary of August 1914, as well as the 20th anniversary of the Liberation. At the November 11 ceremony in Le Bourget, the memory of the station's use as a deportation site (re)appeared publicly. During his speech, Le Bourget mayor Charles Corre mentioned the deportation of Jews. This first mention led in 1967 to the creation of a “Place des Déportés” in front of the station.

A fragile memory, however, since it did not prevent the destruction of the “quai aux moutons” in 1976, as part of the modernization of the tracks for RER line B. Raymond Liegibel, the parish priest of the Cité de la Muette and the Drancy camp, is actively involved in the memory of this destruction, and has begun research to record traces of the vanished quay. The reemergence of the place of memory continued in 1992, when several events were held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vel' d'hiv' roundup. On October 11, a plaque was affixed to the station by the Association Fonds Mémoire d'Auschwitz (AFMA).

For reasons of visibility, commemorations were held in front of the station building. But those involved in the memory of Auschwitz know exactly where the deportation convoys departed from. However, at the turn of the millennium, the location of the former “quai aux moutons” seemed to be gradually disappearing from people's minds.

This has prompted historians to begin topographical research on the station, based on survivor testimonies. In particular, they are highlighting that of Georges Horan-Koiransky, who was one of the teams in charge of luggage for those deported or transferred to the camp. He left a testimony for his family, published in 2014. As early as 1947, he had also published prints, some depicting the Bourget-Drancy station. Cross-referenced with other deportee testimonies and SNCF archives, G. Horan-Koiransky's testimony now confirms that it was indeed this part of the station that was used.

This question is far from insignificant, as it responds to the demands of families and memorial associations. For thousands of people, the goods platform and its surroundings were the last image of France before the deportation. Remembering them and bearing witness to them with a monument or commemorative plaque is one way of paying tribute to them and ensuring that they are never forgotten.