The children's home in Izieu
was opened in April 1943 to serve as a refuge for Jewish
children threatened with arrest and deportation during the
German occupation of France. It was established in an empty
farm house in a remote mountain village overlooking the Rhone
River valley, by the former Red Cross nurse, Sabina Zlatin, who
co-directed the home with her husband Miron.
The original group of children that lived in
the Izieu home were transferred from the Palavas-les-Flots OSE
center and the Campestre � Lod�ve home (both in the Hérault),
which had recently been closed. Although the Izieu home was
independently operated, the Zlatins received a stipend for each
child from the OSE.
On April 6, 1944, one year after it opened,
the home was raided in an operation planned by the Lyon
Gestapo, under the command of Klaus
Barbie. The raid, which took place on a French holiday,
took everyone by surprise, and only one person, Léon Reifman,
was able to escape. Sabina Zlatin was away at the time, having
gone to Montpellier to arrange for the transfer of the children
to a safer location.
In all, 43 children and seven adults were
rounded-up in trucks and taken to the Fort Montluc prison in
Lyon. The following day they were transported by train to Drancy,
so as to preclude attempts by regional authorities to secure
their release. From Drancy, Miron Zlatin and two children were
sent to Tallin, Estonia, where they were taken to a fortress
and shot to death. The others were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau,
where all but Léa Feldblum were sent directly to the gas
chambers.
