(On this day)
At 2.30 in the morning of January 31, 1944, my father's uncle Martin Rozen was arrested by 4 gendarmes. He was living in a room in the house of a widow, Madame Bobières in the village of Sainte-Hermine (Vendée).
This arrest was carried out because the Prefect and the Sub-Prefect ordered it. They ordered it because the local Sicherheitspolizei in Poitiers ordered all Jews in the area to be arrested. He ordered it because the Nazi High Command in Paris ordered it. He ordered it because Eichmann, by 1944, was demanding that the Vichy government hand over more Jews in order that the 'Final Solution' could be carried out in areas that the Nazis controlled.
By luck and persistence, I was able to find out what happened to my father's uncle. After his arrest, he was handed over to the Nazis in the nearby town. He was then transported to Drancy, the Nazi transit camp near Paris. Then after that he was deported to Auschwitz on a cattle train Convoy 68.
The present Mayor of Sainte-Hermine, Philippe Barré came to know of the story of what happened in the village and over several months and more research, he and the village decided to put Martin Rozen (Rosen)'s name on the village war memorial and to name the local park after Martin too. I was honoured to go to the village for the two naming ceremonies.
When the story of Martin became know, this testimony came in. It's my translation.
'Memories, sad memories
We used to come from school to Sainte-Hermine. Coming into the village, on the right was the police station, (which has become 'Le Macis’ cafe). Opposite the police station - a large house where an old lady rented out furnished rooms (today the Bank Crédit Agricole). One of her rooms was lived in by a very, very old gentleman - old to my eyes - more or less 8 years old. Every morning, he waited for us by the side of the road. We didn't ever miss saying to him, 'Good morning, Mr Martin' and he would reply, 'Good morning, children. Always work hard at school'. And in the evening, he was there for us saying, 'Good evening, children. See you tomorrow maybe.'
How I found him to be so nice with his white hair, his blue eyes and his gay smile when he saw us and so sad when we left! And then I was fascinated by this enormous yellow star sewn on to the black coat that he always wore. I didn't know anything at all about the significance of it.
And then one day, there was no Mr Martin anymore, nor the next day or the days after that. I learned from one of my little friends that he had been arrested by the police. Then I forgot about Mr Martin. When you're 8 years old, someone arrested by the police can only be a thief or some other kind of bad person.
And then one day in March 1952, just when I had got a job at the town hall as a secretary, a letter came containing a judgement announcing the death of someone of the name Rozen Chil Mayer, known as Martin, whose last place of habitation was Sainte-Hermine. And everything came back to me of a face and I got to know this terrible story. The only crime committed by Mr Martin was that he was a Jew. He died because he was deported to Auschwitz. He was 54 years old. His death certificate contained the sentence: 'Died for France'. Later, in May 2001, a document came to the Town Hall, asking to add an official statement on his death 'Died in deportation' [as a consequence of being deported?]. It is important that Mr Martin's name is on the war memorial in the village. It's very unusual that I came this way these days, on the way to Luçon, without lifting up my eyes to the window of his room (first on the left on the first floor), and it seems as if I can see him there smiling...so sadly.
Jeanne Baradeau
School child in Sainte-Hermine
Secretary in the Town Hall, 1951-1994.'
