Alain Louis BLUMBERG

Little Alain is the only member of the Blumberg family whose face we shall never see. Born in Drancy camp, he was murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau when he was just two weeks old.

Alain Louis Blumberg, who was affectionately known as “Maiu”, was born at 10:55 a.m. on July 17, 1944 in Drancy internment camp, north of Paris.

Alain Blumberg’s short form birth certificate
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

Alain Blumberg’s birth certificate
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

His parents were Ybersz Armand Blumberg, who was born in Warsaw in Poland, and Rose Blumberg, née Krantzler, who was born in Constantinople in Turkey. Both were Jewish and were naturalized as French citizens on March 6, 1929. Alain was their last child.

Armand and Rose Blumberg
Source: © family photograph belonging to Lionel Levha, Madeleine Blumberg’s son

Alain Louis had five older siblings: Anna, born in 1922; Madeleine, born in 1926; André, born in 1928; Serge, born in 1930 and Simone, born in 1932.

Anna, Armand (the father of the family), Simone and Madeleine

André and Serge

The Blumberg family lived in a low-cost apartment at 18 rue Charles-Lauth in the 18th district of Paris.

Alain, like his brothers and sisters, was born in France to naturalized parents and thus “in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Act of August 10, 1927”, was a French citizen.

Certificate of French nationality
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

The Blumbergs were arrested in their home on July 7, 1944. They were taken to Drancy internment camp, north of Paris, on July 8. The Grinbergs, who lived in the same building, were arrested at the same time. The circumstances surrounding the arrest (which took place as a result of “a deliberate or unintentional tip-off by someone else who lived in the building”) are described in a record in Armand Ybersz Blumberg’s file.

Rose was heavily pregnant with Alain Louis at the time. The family was interned in Drancy and remained there for 23 days. It was during that time, on July 17, that Alain Louis was born.

Civilian victim file
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

A record in the “Civilian victim” file on Alain Louis states that he died in Drancy on July 31, 1944. This is incorrect.

He was in fact deported on Convoy 77. The Sadicaris family, who lived in the same building and were also deported on Convoy77 later testified that the baby was deported “in a little box lined with muslin.”

The Convoy 77 deportation list
Alain Louis was listed as “Maiu”
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Shoah Memorial, Paris

As soon as the train arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau, during the night of August 3-4, 1944, Rose and little Alain Louis were sent straight to the gas chambers.

As for the rest of the family, they were all selected to enter the camp for forced labor. André died in Auschwitz in 1945, and there is a record of his younger brother Serge being held in the Sachsenhausen camp in December 1944.

Madeleine, Anna and their father Armand were also selected for work, and all survived. Simone, who had been kept hidden in the countryside since 1943 also survived the war.

After the war, their father, Ybersz Armand, took the necessary steps to have Alain Louis recognized as a political deportee.

As required by the French authorities, Alain Louis was first declared “missing” in 1951.

Missing person certificate
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

On October 5, 1954, Ybersz Armand succeeded in having all of his missing children, including Alain Louis, officially recognized as political deportees, meaning they were deported for political reasons, and more specifically because they were Jewish.

Notification of the granting of political deportee status
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

Declaration of death issued by the court
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

In 1958, Ybersz Armand obtained court judgement that pronounced Alain Louis dead. This allowed him to get a death certificate from the town hall of the 18th district of Paris, which is where he was living after he returned to France.

Death certificate issued by the town hall
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

After a long series of administrative procedures, which he also carried out in relation to his other murdered children, Ybersz Armand was granted the sum of 12,000 francs as “payment for the heirs of deceased political deportees or internees.”

Confirmation of payment
Source: File on Alain Blumberg © Victims of Contemporary Conflicts Archives Division of the French Ministry of Defense Historical Service, in Caen, Dossier n°21P 427 19974889

 

We would like to thank Mr. Lionel Levha, Madeleine Blumberg’s son, for sharing the Blumberg family’s memories with us. Thank you too for allowing us to publish the family photographs.

We would also like to thank Muriel Baude, a teacher at St Charles High School in St Pierre, Réunion, who began working on this biography in 2018, and a group of 12th-grade students from Camille Guérin High School in Poitiers who also contributed to the research.