The 31000 and 45000

This last episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Auguste Monjauvis.
Today is the 6th of August 1986, and Auguste Monjauvis receives a letter.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Jean Quadri.
Today is a day in the seventies, today a dear friend is coming to see him.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Charlotte Delbo and her book.
Today is a day in 1964, Charlotte Delbo thinks that the time has come.
Her book was ready 20 years ago, now France may be ready to read it.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Emilia Kerisit.
On the first of January 1951, the trial of Ferdinand Werner begins. Emilia Kerisit is not present.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Francis Joly and the Sanders trial.
Francis Joly hopes the Sanders trial will sentence the people who he believes sent him and his friends to Auschwitz.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Marie Claude Vaillant Couturier and the Nuremberg trial.
A year after her liberation from the Ravensbruck camp, Marie Claude Vaillant Couturier is on her way back to Germany, to Nuremberg. The trial is in progress, and Marie Claude is to testify.

This episode of 31000 and 45000 is about Rene Maquenhen.
Rene Maquenhen takes a train back home, surprised to see so many people celebrating him.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Georges Dudal and Fernand Devaux.
The Dachau camp has been freed by the american army, yet the camp is placed in quarantine for 2 weeks to fight against a new typhus epidemic. The prisoners are well fed and treated, still, Fernand Devaux and Georges Dudal decide to escape to come back home earlier.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Pierre Vendroux.
Pierre Vendroux is on his way back to France, he owes his survival to many different events. His tattoos also played a role in his survival, so did his will to survive so he could have his revenge.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Raymond Montegut and the liberation of Buchenwald.
Today is the 11th of April 1945, and the Buchenwald insurrection is about to begin. Raymond Montegut, like many others, is ready. Soon, all the locks will break.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Gabriel Lejard and his daughter.
Gabriel is on his way back to France, not as an enemy anymore but as a member of the reistance.
And he hopes to be reunited with his daughter soon.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Simone Alizon.
Simone is free, finally. She went through so much, and now she is free. But without her sister.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Marcel Cimier and Cap Arcona.
Marcel Cimier has survived years in Auschwitz, he has survived the death marches, and now he hopes to survive the Lubeck Bay tragedy.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Henri Marti and the gas chambers.
Henri Marti is a free man, on his way back home. But he has a message to carry, as he is one of the few who saw the gas chambers.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Charlotte Decock.
Charlotte Delbo was the woman who brought back art to the 31000, Charlotte Decock was the one who brought back taste.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Marie Jeanne Baueur.
On the 27th of January 1945, the Auschwitz Birkenau complex is liberated by the 60th army of the first ukrainian front.
Marie Jeanne Bauer is present; she is the last 31000 in the camp.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Aime Oboeuf.
The Auschwitz Birkenau complex is under evacuation, rows and rows of prisoners are moved to different places. Aime Oboeuf looks for the woman he loves, Genia Goldgicht, hoping they can escape.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Simone Sampaix and Raymonde Georges.
In Ravensbruck, Simone Sampaix tries to find Raymonde Georges. Back in France, the Allies are freeing the country, thanks to resistance fighters such as Pierre Georges, known as the colonel Fabien.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Andre Montagne and the poet.
Auschwitz Birkenau is about to evacuate, and the prisoners in the infirmaries don't know what will happen to them.
Andre Montagne is worried for him, as well as for the others, including Benjamin Fondane, a poet.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Rene Besse and 2 bombings.
Rene Besse has witnessed 2 bombings in his life, and they each bore different meanings.

This episode is about Carmen, Lulu and the transfer to Ravensbruck.
Carmen and Lulu have always stayed together, from the french prisons and camps to Birkenau and Raisko. And now, they are headed to a new camp, Ravensbruck. Whatever this place is, they intend to stay together.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Therese Lamboy and the fate of the hungarian jews.
Therese Lamboy is apart from the other 31000. Now, after the quarantine, they are once more reunited in one block, a block where they witness the fate of the hungarian jews.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Louis Brunet and the cinema.
Today is a day in early 1944, a cold day. Louis Brunet may go to the cinema tonight. A cinema in Auschwitz.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Charlotte Delbo and the play.
In Raisko, the 31000 have their own bed, more food, the work is less difficult.
Charlotte Delbo suddenly suggests the women prepare a play, a play by Moliere.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Georges Marin and a belgian nurse.
In quarantine, the 45000 wait inside, sometimes they get to go in the courtyard. The courtyard is a place of executions, a sinister area.
For Georges Marin, the courtyard is an opportunnity to discuss with a belgian nurse from the adjacent block.

This episode of the 45000 and 31000 is about the 4 Rousseau and the quarantine.
The 45000, like the 31000, are now in quarantine. There used to be a thousand of them, it clearly isn't the case anymore.
But for now, no one dares to count.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Germaine Pican.
Most of the remaining 31000 are sent in quarantine. Few have survived, yet this quarantine is a chance to regain strenght. The women don't know how long they are to stay there, many look up to Germaine Pican.

This episode of the 45000 and 31000 is about Dr Adelaide Hautval and the medical experiments.
Nothing can justify the experiments made in Auschwitz by the so called SS doctors. Dr Adelaide Hautval is asked to help, to participate, yet this is everything she stands against.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Suzanne Pierre.
Against all odds, the remaining women of Birkenau are sent in quarantine once more.
Unfortunately, this may not apply to Suzanne Pierre.

This episode of the 45000 and 31000 is about Aimee Doridat.
Aimee Doridat had an accident and fell off a stool.
She broke her leg very badly. In such a place, how can she hope to survive such an injury?

Today, Louis Eudier writes a letter, a letter from Auschwitz to France.
How could this have happened?

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Genevieve Pakula and Raisko.
Genevieve Pakula is exhausted. She has emerged from a coma in the revir as she caught typhus and must get back to a kommando if she wishes to avoid a selection.
Genevieve can't hold much longer, unless a miracle happens.
And that is precisely what Raisko is.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Danielle Casanova.
Of all the 31000, Danielle Casanova is the most likely to survive. She works in a different barrack as a dentist, has her own bed and is fed well.
But the typhus is attacking at random inside the camp.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Claudine Guerin.
The 31000 are women of various ages. The life conditions and hard labor are making the oldest women's survival chance less likely. But the youngest women may also have their spirits broken more easily. Fortunately, Claudine Guerin may be young yet she is well surrounded.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about David Badache.
David Badache is one of the 50 jewish men deported alongside the political prisoners. The jewish prisoners have been treated even more cruelly than the others, the nazi administration clearly aims at killing them all, David and Jules Polosecki are the only 2 who have survived the first 6 months.
And now there is a talk of a transfer from Birkenau to Auschwitz, with less difficult kommandos. Will the administration allow jewish prisoners for this transfer?

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Anne Maria Ostrowska.
Anne Maria Ostrowska works in the swamp kommando, an exhausting task. In the fog, she wonders if some silhouettes in the distance may be her family.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Henriette Schmidt.
Henriette Schmidt used to be a promising young communist leader. Now, because of what her husband may have done, she can't be trusted no more.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Marcelle Fuglesang.
Such a camp shouldn't exist, it is beyond everything humanity is supposed to stand for. Marcelle Fuglesang doesn't understand why the Geneva convention doesn't apply here.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Yvonne Picard.
The quarantine is over, the 31000 are scattered in work kommandos, just like the 45000 were 6 months earlier.
Yvonne Picard is in a kommando transporting bricks all day along, it becomes quickly too difficult.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Maria Alonso.
Still in quarantine, the 31000 have a glimpse of the cruelty of the camp and its lack of basic needs. Maria Alonso, one the 31000's leaders, attempt to force her way to a simple faucet yet a kapo is guarding it.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Henriette Pizzoli.
The 10th of February of 1943 is a dreadful day for the women of Birkenau. For no apparent reason, they must stand in the cold for an entire day.
Henriette Pizzoli may hold yet she is scared about her aunt Gabrielle, who may not.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Jeanne Herve.
Without any explanation, the 31000 are put in quarantine rather than separated in work kommandos. The women wait, fortunately they know each other well and are a united front.
Yet Jeanne Herve and a small number of women are staying on their own. Why is that?

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Eugene Garnier.
The arrival of the 31000 by singing was an act of bravery, of resistance.
Eugène Garnier, a 45000, looks for a way to get in touch with them. But how to contact them if he can't reach their block?

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Louise Magadur.
The women enter the Birkenau camp and start the process of becoming the 31000, changing, cutting their hair, shaving, tattooing.
As they don't know what to expect, they lean towards their leaders. Amongst them Louise Magadur.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Helene Hascoet.
The train is heading further and further into german occupied territory, until it stops in the middle of the night No one quite knows where they are are, yet some women like Helene Hascoet have heard stories from her Jewish friends. Terrifying stories.
Could those be true?

This episode of 31000/45000 is the first about the women and is about Jeanne Alexandre.
A group of women board a train. They knew they would be eventually deported, they are prepared for it, yet they expect a labor camp of Germany.
Amongst them, Jeanne Alexandre, a woman with a surprising amount of explosives at her apartment. What for?

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Roger Menielle.
Boxing matches are organised within within camp, and tolerated by the organisation. Sometimes, prisoners fight prisoners, sometimes prisoners fight kapos. The winner gets respect, and some food, the lower gets hurt, and this can easily lead to a selection.
Today, Roger Menielle will fight, and his friend Rene Besse is worried. Will he win the fight?

This episode of 31000/45000 is about the Filloux.
Some of the 45000 have been arrested at the same time, some are related. Yet it is rare to have a father, a brother and a son, all deported together, within the 45000.

This episode of 31000/45000 is about Joseph Schneider.
Before his arrest, Joseph Schneider was a recent widower trying to take care of his children. As a sabotage was being prepared by members of the resistance nearby his bar, Joseph was starting to worry for his son, eager to fight the occupier.

This episode of the 31000 and 45000 is about Roger Debarre.
Roger Debarre know that he shouldn't enter the infirmary, or revir. But he has no choice, he can't work any longer.
There he manages to meet with his friend Jean Toussaint, who is in even poorer health.
Roger may not hold long, and he knows his fiend is about to be selected. The only hope he has left is a signet ring he managed to hide all this time. If he can hide the ring, could he hide himself?