Fernande Messaoudi Amouyal 

Birth 

Fernande Messaouda Amouyal was born on April 30, 1929. Her father, Mouchi Amouyal, was from Morocco and her mother, Djour Amouyal, was from Algeria. She was born in the 2nd district of Lyon, in the Rhone department of France.  

Life 

Fernande had four brothers and sisters: Annette (who died in 2000, had one son), Edmond (who died in 2011), René and Elise. She was a Jewish schoolgirl and her mother was a housewife.  They lived at 25, rue Anatole France in St-Fons, a town south of Lyon. 

Arrest 

On July 12, 1944, her life was turned upside down. She was alone at home with her mother when they were both arrested by the Goetzmann-Benamara couple, in front of their neighbors, Maria Ribeiro and Lucie Verelle. Both couples were French, but were Gestapo collaborators. They must have been arrested solely on grounds of “race”, since according to their father they were not part of the Resistance.  They were taken to Montluc prison.  

Deportation 

Fernande was then taken to the Drancy transit camp on July 24th. She was deported to Auschwitz on July 31, on Convoy No. 77. We do not know the exact date of her death: 
– One document tells us that she was declared dead on departure, i.e, on July 31, 1944 (see document 1). 
– Another says that she died on the day of her arrival at Auschwitz (see document 2). 
Later, her father submitted missing persons reports (see document 3) for Fernande and her mother. He went on obtain, on their behalf, the status of “Mort pour la France”, or “Died for France“, and to have them declared as having been political deportees, as a result of which he received a pension. 

Sources viewed from 18/03/2019 to 21/03/2019:

• Convoi 77 project archives
• Shoah Memorial website: 
  http://bdi.memorialdelashoah.org/internet/jsp/core/MmsGlobalSearch.jsp?PEGA_HREF_1256942096_0_0_goToResistantSearch=goToResistantSearch
• Lyon municipal archives: 
  http://www.archives-lyon.fr/archives/sections/fr/archives_en_ligne 
  1 Place des Archives, 69002 Lyon
• Rhone departmental archives: 
  http://archives.rhone.fr/ 
  34 rue Général Mouton-Duvernet 69003 LYON
• Death certificate provided by the Town Hall at St Fons 

21/03/2019 

doc 1

 

doc 2