Last updated on 12 May 2026
It was 6 April 1944, just a few weeks before the Allied landings in Normandy., 44 Jewish children from the House of Izieu were rounded up under Klaus Barbie before being taken to Auschwitz. None came back.
Nearly 80 years after a great project tries to revive the dreams of these children. A beautiful and sad story that combines children’s drawings, animated cinema, resistance to fascism and an incredible educational project. Together we will light the magic lantern of the children of Izieu.
Table of Contents
The magic lantern of the children of Izieu
The House of Izieu Since May 1943, they had been welcoming children who had been taken away from the Nazi peril. Jewish children who are refugees, separated from their parents and sentenced to exile. They were of German, Polish, Belgian, French, metropolitan or Algerian origin.
Life is organised nicely and we try to make the youngest forget the cruelty of the moment, the threats and the dark clouds. One of the children’s favourite moments is the evening cinema session designed by the young cook from the colony. Lchildren create stories in the form of drawn scrolls, intended to be projected in the light of a candle according to the principle of the magic lantern. The screening is accompanied by the children themselves reading their stories and interpreting their dialogues and noises. Their drawings thus came to life in front of them and allowed them to escape. On 6 April 1944, the magic lantern died out.
The project of creating cartoons from children's drawings
A few weeks after the raid, the colony director returned to the colony and found the children's belongings. Among the letters, drawings, photos, she also finds three scrolls of drawn stories. These rolls were used for evening screenings.
78 years later, an animation studio Among the fireflies films in collaboration with the House of Izieu and an art school had the great idea of bringing to life the cinematographic dreams of the children of the Colony of Izieu by embarking on the production of a short animated film faithful to the children’s drawings and respecting their story as much as possible.
The fragile strips of paper with the drawings of the children of Izieu are very fragile. Heare kept in the department of prints and photography of the National Library of France which used all its technical means and its unique know-how to restore them. The project page created on Kiss Kiss Bank bank explains the creation process in detail from the 74 children’s drawings and gridded notebook sheets containing the storyline and dialogues.
A soundtrack made by middle school students to make the link between past and present
How to respect in the soundtrack the atmosphere of the projections the magic lantern of the children of Izieu and their imagination to create noises with the means of the edge. The directors of the film had the beautiful idea from make the sound, voices and noises, by a class "UPE2A" of young allophone refugees
the Aimé Césaire College of Vaulx - en - Velin (specialized class with a reinforced teaching of French adapted to their needs. A class that brings together other children thrown into exile because of war or their differences.
The recording of voices and noises was carried out at the Maison d’Izieu, the site of the vigils of yesteryear. The result is, it seems (I did not see or hear it) great.
A public collection to complete the budget of the first film
Many partners have put their hands in their pockets to make this incredible project possible. The budget for the first animated film based on the drawings of Izieu’s children is 30 000 Eur short. 30 000 Eur. If we all do it, it should not be too difficult to rekindle the magic lantern of the children of Izieu. We need its light, more than ever, in these turbulent times.
The Kiss Kiss bank bank page to support this project can be found here: Children's animation film by Izieu
Names of the 44 children and 7 educators rounded up in Izieu on 6 April 1944:
- Sami Adelsheimer, 5 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 71
- Hans Ament, 10 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 75
- Nina Aronowicz, 11 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 71
- Max-Marcel Balsam, 12 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Jean-Paul Balsam, 10 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Esther Benassayag, 12 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Elie Benassayag, 10 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Jacob Benassayag, 8 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Jacques Benguigui, 12 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Jean-Claude Benguigui, 5 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Richard Benguigui, 7 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Barouk - Raoul Bentitou, 12 years old, born in Algeria, deported by convoy 71
- Majer Bulka, 13 years old, born in Poland, deported by convoy 71
- Albert Bulka, 4 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 71
- Lucienne Friedler, 5 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 76
- Egon Gamiel, 9 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 71
- Liliane Gerenstein, 11 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Maurice Gerenstein, 13 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Henri-Chaïm Goldberg, 13 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Joseph Goldberg, 12 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Claudine Halaunbrenner, 5 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 76
- Mina Halaunbrenner, 8 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 76
- Georgy Halpern, 8 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Arnold Hirsch, 17 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 73
- Isidore Kargeman, 10 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Liane Krochmal, 6 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Renate Krochmal, 8 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Max Leiner, 8 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 71
- Claude Levan-Reifman, 10 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Fritz Loebmann, 15 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 71
- Alice Jacqueline Luzgart, 10 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 75
- Marcel Mermelstein, 7 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 74
- Paula Mermelstein, 10 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 74
- Theodor Reis, 16 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 73
- Gilles Sadowski, 8 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Martha Spiegel, 10 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Senta Spiegel, 9 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Sigmund Springer, 8 years old, born in Austria, deported by convoy 71
- Sarah Szulklaper, 11 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 71
- Herman Tetelbaum, 10 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 71
- Max Tetelbaum, 12 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 71
- Charles Weltner, 9 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 75
- Otto Wertheimer, 12 years old, born in Germany, deported by convoy 71
- Emile Zuckerberg, 5 years old, born in Belgium, deported by convoy 71
- Lucie Feiger, 49 years old, born in France, deported by convoy 72
- Mina Friedler, 32 years old, born in Poland, deported by convoy 76
- Sarah Levan-Reifman, 36 years old, born in Romania, deported by convoy 71
- Eva Reifman, 61 years old, born in Romania, deported by convoy 71
- Moses Reifman, 62 years old, born in Romania, deported by convoy 71
- Miron Zlatin, 39 years old, born in Russia, deported by convoy 73 and
- Leah (Laja) Feldblum, 25 years old, born in Poland, deported by convoy 71, the only survivor
English
I read their names, I have no words, an overflowing love for them to prevent what happened. I was born in 46, little girl, they weren’t talked about and yet … in front of clusters of children’s clothes, little rabbit coats, scarves with a fox’s head whose eyes were made of glass, I understood everything, through words spoken about them, I could only talk to them to tell them that I loved them …