Zavadier, Walter (W)

Murdered, in Shoah. Deported with Transport 77 from Drancy Camp, France to Auschwitz Birkenau Extermination Camp, Poland on 31 July 1944. At the end of July 1944, the situation was particularly unstable in Paris. The allies who had landed on June 6th were advancing towards the capital. On July 20th, an attack against Hitler and an attempted coup d'Etat had failed; Gestapo officals arrested by the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were released. Alois Brunner, camp commandant of Drancy, took advantage of the confusion and continued following his murderous madness to the end. He sent his commandos in UGIF homes in the region of Paris where they rounded up 300 children, including 18 infants. On 31 July 1944, the convoy 77, the last large convoy of deportees left from Drancy to Auschwitz, carrying to the extermination camp more than 1,000 men and women, and 300 children. Of the 1321 prisoners, 726 were immediately sent to the gas chambers upon arrival in Auschwitz. The camp was to be liberated by the Red Army on January 27th, 1945. Only 214 deportees had survived forced labor, abuse, pseudo-medical experiments and deprivation