Izieu

On April 6th 1944, the Lyon Gestapo, under the command of Klaus Barbie (the Butcher of Lyon), arrested forty-four children who had found refuge in a house in Izieu, along with seven adults who were in charge of them, simply because they were Jews. Only one person who was present that day managed to escape. Forty-two of the children and five of the adults were sent to the gas chambers in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Two adolescents and the director of the house were shot in Estonia, just one woman survived.
After the Barbie trial in 1987 in Lyon, an association was founded by Sabine Zlatin who also founded the Izieu Children's Home together with her husband in 1943.
On April 24th 1994, François Mitterrand, President of the Republic, formally opened this centre of commemoration in Izieu. The Maison d'Izieu was the very first centre of commemoration in France dedicated to the plight of hidden and deported Jewish children during the Second World War. Open to the public, its main intention is a serious one; to arouse a sense of vigilance in its visitors.
Through its commemoration of the murdered Jewish children, the Maison d'Izieu informs people about crimes against humanity and the circumstances that gave rise of them. Its aspiration is to contribute to the defense of dignity, human rights and justice, and the struggle against all forms of intolerance and racism.
Two buildings are open to visitors. There is the house itself, where the children and adults lived. Rather than just create an historical reconstruction, the planners of the Maison d'Izieu memorial wanted to focus on the lives of the children themselves and the significance of their deportation and murder. Their letters and drawings are on display in the refectory and their portraits can be seen in the dormitories.
Then there is the barn, which houses a permanent exhibition tracing the history and fate of the children of Izieu and their families, against the backdrop of the Vichy regime's collaboration with Hitler and the anti-Jewish persecution that took place in Europe under the Nazis. The final part of this permanent exhibition examines the concept of crimes against humanity, with particular reference to the main French wartime collaborators and the major trials, those that were held in Nuremberg, and the more recent trial of Klaus Barbie.
The memorial also has its own projection room, where documentary films are shown, most notably a film containing extracts of the Barbie trial. This film was produced specially for the Maison d'Izieu, which owns the exclusive rights to its distribution and is based on written statements and depositions concerning the raid on Izieu.
There is also a year round program of activities such as meetings, readings, lectures, debates and exhibitions.
The Maison d'Izieu is a place of living history and remembrance. It is visited by large numbers of school groups.
Its educational mission consists of giving teachers the means to explore new horizons through discovery groups, workshops, artistic activities and encounters with people who can give first-hand accounts of their experiences.
It is also developing a number of new themes, including links with the academic world, partnerships, and projects with the educational departments of several memorials in Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Czech Republic.