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Obj. ID: 48334
Jewish Architecture
  Plaque to the Ghost Train Victims in the Sephardi Synagogue in Bordeaux, France, 2017

© Lev Kaminsky, Photographer: Kaminsky, Lev, 2023

Memorial Name

Plaque to the Ghost Train Victims

Who is Commemorated?

Victims of the "ghost train" mass deportation

Description

This memorial is a rectangular marble plaque, attached to the wall of the Sephardi Synagogue by four black metal facets. It is inscribed with black letters, telling the story of the "Ghost Train" and its victims.

Inscription 

Les Déportés
du Train Fantôme

Partis de Toulouse le 3 Juillet 1944
dans les wagons á bestiaux
du sinistre Train Fantôme,
550 déportés résistants
de toutes orgines furent internés
le 12 Juillet 1944
dans cette Synagogue dévastée et profanée
par l'occupant nazi.
Les 24 femmes du convoi furent incarcérées
á la caserne Boudet

 Le 31 Juillet 1944, 10 d'entre eux
furent pris en otage et fusillés
au Campe de Souge

 Le 9 Août 1944,
ils furent de nouveau entassés
dans le Train Fantôme á destination
des camps de Dachau, Mauthausen
et Ravensbrück, avek 155 Résistants
du Sud-Ouest internés au Fort du Hâ.
Ils arrivérent au camp de concentration
de Dachau le 28 Août 1944
aprés deux mois de transport inhumain.

 Seuls 250 d'entre eux survécurent
á la barbarie nazie

 L'Amicale des Déportés-Résistants
du Train Fantôme
sourgues (vaucluse)

TranslationThe Deportees of the Ghost Train  / Left Toulouse on July 3, 1944 / in cattle cars / of the sinister Ghost Train, / 550 resistant deportees / of all origins were interned / July 12, 1944 / in this devastated and desecrated Synagogue / by the Nazi occupier. / The 24 women in the convoy were imprisoned / at the Boudet barracks / On July 31, 1944, 10 of them / were taken hostage and shot / at Camp de Souge / On August 9, 1944, / they were crowded again / in the Ghost Train to their destination / from the camps of Dachau, Mauthausen / and Ravensbrück, with 155 Resistants / of the South-West interned at Fort du Hâ. / They arrived at the concentration camp / from Dachau on August 28, 1944 / after two months of inhuman transport. / Only 250 of them survived / the Nazi barbarism / The Association of Deportees-Resistants of the Ghost Train / Sourges (Vaucluse)

Commissioned by

The Association of Deportees-Resistants of the Ghost Train

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

2 image(s)

sub-set tree:

Name/Title
Plaque to the Ghost Train Victims in the Sephardi Synagogue in Bordeaux | Unknown
Object Detail
(to be reviewed)
Monument Setting
Synagogue (active)
{"10":"Any immovable marker or memorial that specifically references the Holocaust."}
Date
2017
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Origin
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
France | Nouvelle-Aquitaine région | Bordeaux
| 8, rue du Grand-Rabbin Joseph-Cohen
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Textual Content
Languages of inscription
Shape / Form
Material / Technique
Marble
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
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Material Cloth
Material Lining
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Condition
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Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
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Present Usage Details
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Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
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Pricking
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Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
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Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
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Colophon
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Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

From the Jewish Fates During the Second World War exhibition website:

During the battle for the liberation of France in summer 1944, the German authorities continued deporting prisoners even though defeat was inevitable. The “ghost train” was one of the last mass transits carrying deportees to Dachau concentration camp. The train left Toulouse on 3 July 1944 and arrived at Bordeaux station on 9 July, with 580 prisoners crammed into livestock wagons. On board were a mixture of Spanish and Italian resistance fighters, and Jews from Poland and central Europe. On 12 July 1944, the 550 men on board the train were imprisoned in the Great Synagogue of Bordeaux, in conditions of unimaginable horror. Some of them tried to escape. Ten prisoners were executed by firing squad as a reprisal. The convoy left Saint-Jean station on 9 August 1944, headed for Germany. It carried an additional 155 prisoners who had previously been incarcerated at Fort du Hâ. The train reached its destination on 28 August 1944 after a gruelling 57-day journey. The 65 women on board were deported to Ravensbrück camp. Although some of the prisoners managed to escape with the help of French railway workers, only half of the 540 deportees who arrived at Dachau survived.

...

This commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Great Synagogue of Bordeaux in 2017 in memory of the victims of the “ghost train”, who were imprisoned at the synagogue in conditions of unimaginable horror. At the inauguration ceremony, the Consistory of Bordeaux recalled that “the long-forgotten story of the ghost train is a timely reminder of the underestimated role played by immigrants from every country in Europe in the liberation of France”.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

"Jewish Fates in Bordeaux During the Second World War" Centre National Jean Moulin (Ports of Exile), https://destinees-juives.expositionsvirtuelles.fr/en/sections/bordeaux/#div-bordeaux-15-1-0 (accessed March 19, 2023)
Type
Documenter
|
Author of description
Adam Frisch | 2023
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed: