Maison d’Izieu

The Maison d’Izieu, located in the south of the Bugey region in France, is a memorial site dedicated to the memory of Jewish children and their educators who were victims of the Holocaust. This unique location, with its exceptional panorama, serves as a place of memory, and education, helping to understand crimes against humanity and acting against all forms of discrimination.

During the Second World War, the Maison d’Izieu was used as a refuge for Jewish children. These children, along with their educators, were hidden from the Nazi regime in what was thought to be a safe haven. However, on April 6, 1944, the Gestapo, led by Klaus Barbie, raided the house. They arrested 44 children and 7 adults, who were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only one of the adults survived; all the children were murdered.

In 1988, following the Klaus Barbie trial, the “Musée Mémorial d’Izieu” Association was formed to create a museum at the site. With support from a national and international subscription, the Association acquired the site in July 1990 and after a six-month renovation starting in fall 1993, the memorial was inaugurated on April 24, 1994.

The Maison d’Izieu stands today as a symbol of the innocence destroyed by the Holocaust. It is a place of awakening to vigilance, delivering a universal message and acting against all forms of intolerance and racism. The memorial aims to make accessible a complex contemporary history: the Holocaust in France, the birth of international justice and its functioning to the present day, and the construction of a memory of crimes against humanity.

One of the key features of the Maison d’Izieu is its collection of 71 drawings and letters, a poignant testament to the lives and experiences of the children who once sought refuge there. These items, preserved since 1993 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, were rescued by Sabine Zlatin following the Gestapo raid. They include personal letters, drawings by the children, and administrative documents, offering a window into the daily lives and emotional world of these young victims.