Department and territory: Seine Saint Denis (93), the Muette project.
Dates of activities: opened in October 1939, requisitioned by the German army in June 1940, and fled by the Germans on August 17th 1944.
Size: The Muette project’s buildings.
Reception capacity: about 5,000 people.
Category: military camp, internment camp, concentration camp, deportation centre.
Populations: English and French prisoners of war, communists, suspects (5th column), French Jews and foreigners, children.
Drancy in dates
August 20th 1941: Camp opened as a civil internment camp (prior to being a military detention centre).
15 December 1941: Following an attack on a German officer, 70 people were executed at Mount Valérian including 53 from the camp of Drancy.
March 27th 1942: First departures from Drancy for Auschwitz, 1,112 people were deported for the extermination camps.
July 1942: The camp housed women and children after the roundup of Vel d'Hiv.
July 2nd 1943: The SS took control of Drancy.
August 17th 1944: Liberation of Drancy.
Drancy in figures
4,000 is the figure of the first interns at Drancy following the roundup of the 11th arrondissement in Paris. All were Jews, and the majority was foreign or stateless persons.
14 internees were arrested by the Gestapo after the discovery of an escape tunnel in the camp. They were interrogated and tortured and subsequently deported to Auschwitz by convoy 63 on November 20th 1942. Out of these 14 people, 12 jumped from the train and joined the resistance.
Approximately 65,000 Jews were deported to Drancy by the French authorities during the war. The total number of Jews deported from France during this period is estimated to be 76,000.
