World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseDrancy, located in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France, was an internment camp in the German concentration camp system. It was created shortly after the German conquest of France in 1940, although it was used only as barracks for French police units loyal to the Germans before being converted into a camp for French Jews in the following year. The first Jews arrived at Drancy on 20 Aug 1941, where they would be processed before being sent to concentration camps in Eastern Europe. Up until Jul 1943, the German SS organization ran the camp through the French police; after, the SS took direct control, with Alois Brunner as the commandant. Although the camp had a capacity of 700, by 1944 it was regularly holding more than 7,000 prisoners. Notable prisoners at Drancy included artist Max Jacob, playwright Tristan Bernard, choreographer René Blum, Dutch painter Max van Dam, and German artist Charlotte Salomon. During the German occupation, Drancy sent 67,400 Jews (6,000 of whom were children) to Auschwitz, which made up the bulk of the total of 75,000 French Jews deported to Auschwitz during this period. Allied forces arrived at the camp in Aug 1944; 1,542 prisoners remained at Drancy at the time of its liberation.

Drancy Concentration Camp Interactive Map

Photographs

Drancy Concentration Camp Timeline

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2.  C. Peter Chen says:
15 Jan 2018 07:57:20 AM

To Anonymous of 13 Jan 2018: If you still have the URL to the Nazi memorabilia site, please send it to me privately so we can take appropriate action. Thank you.