The deportees from Tulle
The next day, June 10, 1944, approximately 500 reprieved hostages, who had spent the night in the workshops of the Arms Factory, once again underwent arbitrary selections by SS leader Kowatsch (P1) assisted by the sinister and treacherous Walter Schmald (P2).
About 200 of them were able to reunite with their families. However, 311 remained, vainly hoping for liberation.
Loaded onto trucks gathered in the courtyard of the Arms Factory, the 311 hostages were crammed into groups of about 30 per truck, heading towards Limoges for a final selection before the deportation of some of them to Germany and the sinister Nazi camps of mass extermination.
The final selection in Limoges will take place on June 11 and 12 at the barracks of the 21st Chasseurs (P3). Those who are released will return to Tulle on June 12. 149 of them will be transferred via Poitiers to Compiègne, a transit center for future deportees.
On July 2, joined by other detainees, they are crammed into 24 cattle wagons with a loaf of bread for four days and a half-full barrel of water. They depart for the Dachau concentration camp in what is called “the death convoy,” where they will arrive on the evening of July 5.
Que se passe-t-il dans ces wagons? Chacun eut son histoire. Nous reprenons à ce sujet les propos évoqués dans « Le Drame de Tulle » d’Antoine Soulier concernant Mr Bouzide, directeur d’école à Clermont l’Hérault, qui faisait partie du convoi:
“With a total of 2521 detainees, we left the camp of Compiègne on July 2nd at 8 o’clock in the morning. We were packed 100 into each of the cattle wagons. (P4) The cars only have two small openings, 30 by 70 centimeters, securely barred.
The July heat weighs heavily on us; the atmosphere inside the wagons gradually becomes foul, and we can no longer breathe properly, when at 9 o’clock the convoy sets off. The air fills with unbreathable gases, the heat overwhelms us; people try, pushing and shoving, to bare their torsos; sweat streams down every body, people jostle to get their noses to the grille; the heat is unbearable.
At Reims, the train stops in a trench; the detainees, who were showing signs of fatigue earlier, begin to experience symptoms of asphyxia and cerebral congestion. We demand water from our tormentors, which is mercilessly denied to us. The Reims Red Cross, alerted, tries to supply us, but is brutally repelled. It is then that tragic and horrific scenes unfold in each wagon.
A kind of furious madness seizes about ten other unfortunate souls; there’s jostling, insults, and fighting. Madness takes hold of everyone; one smashes his neighbor’s skull with a bottle; beside me, a deportee gouges out his best friend’s eyes. In another corner, a wretch, throwing himself at his neighbor, tears off his testicles and plunges a knife into his stomach; then he smashes his head against the wagon wall.
I saw one of our comrades strangling a dying man… and I witnessed scenes even more tragic and hallucinatory than the last. Death is now our only terrifying sight. The worst affected succumb. In my wagon, there are about fifteen dead. We call out to our escorts for help. They come, look at the bodies lying there, chuckling. ‘There are dead people,’ we tell them. They shrug and reply in good French: ‘You are part of the Resistance, well then! Resist.
We lose all hope. In a few small stations, brave Frenchmen, railway workers, at the risk of the severest penalties, bring us, through the grilles, some bottles of water. Night falls, and the rain, which somewhat cools the wagons, begins to pour. It will save many of us.
Finally, here is Revigny. The train stops in the middle of a field. The criminals open the wagons and make us get off. The dead are piled up in the same cars, the sick in others, and we set off again, hungry and thirsty… Metz, Sarrebourg, Haguenau, Ulm, Augsburg, Munich, Dachau (20 km away); we arrive on Wednesday, July 5th, around 5 p.m. (P6)
An infection emanates from the wagons loaded with decomposing corpses, which seep through the cracks.” (P7) “Bouzide”
“The next morning, during roll call in the main square, 984 did not answer the call, including 33 from Tulle who perished in this transfer. And now, the life of the camps takes over, continuing the massacre in all its forms, each more barbaric than the last. (P8) + (P9) + (P10) + (P11) + (P12)”
“Ten months later (May 1945), General Patton’s 7th American Army liberates the camp and discovers an apocalyptic situation, hidden until now from the free countries. (P13) + (P14) + (P15)”
Out of the 2521 deportees who left Compiègne, only 326 survivors remained. Many of these survivors were gathered at the Hôtel Lutétia in Paris for identification and initial medical care to regain some strength. The accounts of their sufferings were often doubted by the Parisian environment, as this journey through hell seemed unreal. (P16)
It’s worth noting that among the 2521 deportees who left Compiègne, there were 149 from Tulle. 101 of them did not return.
Only 48 prisoners will return to Corrèze and be able to see their families again.
Below is the list and photos in our possession concerning these innocent victims.
Cliquez pour voir les déportés
List of deportees for whom we do not have photos
If you have a photo of any of these deportees, please contact us so we can display it and pay tribute to this person. Thank you.
A total of 72 deportees without photos
(The numbers appearing before each name are those from the list established in “The Tragedy of Tulle” by A. Soulier)