22 October 1940...Deportation
On the 22nd October 1940, in the space of just a few hours 6504 Jewish men, women and children from Baden and the Pfalz were brought to a central collection point and were deported in transport trains to Gurs in Southern France. The oldest of the deportees was 97 years old. Of these around 300 were Jewish citizens of Freiburg. They were imprisoned in Camp Gurs until August 1942, unless they had died first of starvation and illness, when they were deported to the extermination camps in the east, mainly to Auschwitz and Maldanek. Over 5200 of the Gurs deportees died as victims of the terror. Too many looked away, too few stood up and resisted. That should not and will not be repeated.* Taken from inscription on plaque
This image on the right is of the Freiburg Holocaust Memorial on the Wiwili Bridge in the centre of this south western German city, commemorating the deportation of the Jewish citizens of Freiburg.
Camp de Gurs
Camp Gurs was an internment and refugee camp constructed by the French government in 1939. The camp was originally set up in southwestern France after the fall of Catalonia at the end of the Spanish Civil War to control those who fled Spain out of fear of retaliation from Francisco Franco's regime.
At the start of World War II, the French government interned Germans and citizens of other Axis Powers, as well as French nationals who were considered to have dangerous political ideas or who were imprisoned for ordinary crimes.
After the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940, it became an Internment camp for Jews of any nationality except French, as well as people considered dangerous by the government.
There were 382 cabins without windows or other insulation. They did not offer protection from the cold, and the tarred fabric soon began to deteriorate, allowing rainwater to enter the cabins. Sanitation in the cabins was nonexistent, and residents slept on sacks of straw gathered place on the floor. Despite the fact that each cabin had an area of only 25 square metres, each cabin had to lodge up to 60 people during times of peak occupancy.
Food was scarce and poor in quality; there was no sanitation, running water, or plumbing. The camp had poor drainage. In each îlot there were rudimentary toilets, not very different from the sort of troughs that would be used to feed animals. There was also a platform about 2 metres high, which one climbed using steps, and upon which were built additional toilets. Under the platform there were large tubs that collected excrement. Once they were full they were transported out of the camp in carts.
Along with his wife and his eldest daughter Antonie, Julius was deported from Freiburg to Gurs, France on 22nd October 1940. Julius Veit died of enteritis at Gurs on 8th December 1940 and is buried in the Cimetiere Des Deportes at Gurs.
Along with her husband Julius and her eldest daughter Antonie, Katharina was deported from Freiburg to Gurs, France on 22nd October 1940. Katharina and Toni stayed interned together in Gurs until 19th January 1942, then on 20th January 1942 to Camp Noe. She was held in Camp Noe until 17th August 1943. After a 2 month stop in Lons-le-Saunier she was relocated for almost 3 years to the Hospice de la Charite in Macon.
Katharina was sponsored to emigrate to the USA by her daughter Gretel and she moved to America in 1946. She became a US citizen on 11th November 1954 and lived at 395 Weaver Street, Larchmont, New York with Gretel and Ernst Frohman. She made a claim for Restitution that failed on the grounds that the family business was failing without the intervention of the National Socialists.
She died on 18th September 1958 in Larchmont, USA.
Along with her father Julius and mother Katharina, Toni was deported from Freiburg to Gurs, France on 22nd October 1940. Katharina and Toni stayed interned together in Gurs in Ilot I Batiment 3 until 19th January 1942. On 3rd August 1942 Toni was transported first to Recebedou, then a few days later to Drancy. On convoy 18 on 12th August 1942 she was deported together with 1000 other Jewish citizens, mostly of German and Austrian nationality, to Auschwitz. She was presumably murdered immediately on arrival. There is no death certificate.
Toni Veit is remembered on the Wall of Names at the Shoah Memorial in Paris. You can find more information, including a photograph of the inscription by clicking here.