Eighty Years On, a French Deportee Reflects on the Horror of Auschwitz and the Difficult Return Home
Eighty years have passed since the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenstadt concentration camp were opened, releasing a tide of survivors who had endured unimaginable cruelty and suffering. One of those survivors is 95-year-old Annie Dupont, a Frenchwoman who was deported to Auschwitz at the age of 15. As she sits in her Parisian apartment, surrounded by family photos and mementos, her eyes well up with tears as she reflects on the horror she experienced.
"I was just a child, barely 15 years old, when I was ripped from my family and thrown into a cattle car," Annie recalls, her voice trembling. "I thought it was the end for me, the end of my life. I thought I would never see my family or my village again."
Annie was one of nearly 77,000 French Jews deported to Auschwitz between 1943 and 1944. The majority of them were women, and the conditions were brutal. "We were crammed into these tiny cars, no room to sit or lie down. The smell of unwashed bodies, the stench of death was everywhere. We were given no food, no water. It was like we were just animals."
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Annie and her fellow deportees were subjected to a grueling selection process, where prisoners were separated into those who would be sent to the gas chambers and those who would be subjected to forced labor. "I remember feeling so scared, so helpless. I thought I was a goner, that I would never make it out alive."
Annie, like many others, was forced to work in the camp’s clothing workshop, where she and her fellow prisoners toiled for 12 hours a day, six days a week, making uniforms for the German soldiers who guarded them. "It was backbreaking work, but it was better than the alternative – to be sent to the gas chamber."
In May 1945, as Allied forces advanced on Berlin and the war began to turn, the Nazis abandoned Auschwitz, leaving behind a legacy of destruction and death. Annie was among the thousands of prisoners who were forced to march for days, sometimes without food or shelter, and were eventually liberated by Soviet soldiers.
The return to France, however, was not easy. Many deportees, including Annie, had lost their families, their communities, and their sense of homeland. "I came back to a world that was unrecognizable," she says. "Everything was different, everything was changed. I felt like a stranger in my own country."
The trauma of her experience left deep scars. Annie struggled to adjust to life in post-war France, haunted by the memories of Auschwitz and the loved ones she had lost. "It took me years to come to terms with what had happened," she says. "I had nightmares, experienced flashbacks. But with time, with support from my family and friends, I began to heal."
Today, Annie is an advocate for Holocaust remembrance and education, sharing her story with students and communities across France. "I do it to honor those who suffered, to remind the world what happened. I say, ‘Remember, never forget.’ I want to make sure that what happened to me, to millions of others, is never forgotten."
As she looks back on her journey, Annie’s eyes fill with tears. "I am grateful to be here, to have lived this long. But I am also angry – angry that such a thing could happen, angry that it did happen. I hope that by sharing my story, I can make a difference, that I can help ensure that such a tragedy never happens again."
In the twilight of her life, Annie’s resolve remains unshaken. "I will keep telling my story, keep reminding the world of the horrors of Auschwitz. I will keep saying, ‘Never forget, never forgive.’ I will never stop fighting for justice, for the memories of those who were lost, and for the future of humanity."
