Status Updates From Vichy France and the Jews

'By 1944, almost 75,000 Jews had been deported from France to killing centers in former Polish territory. Upon arrival, most were gassed immediately.' Although there were reports of Hitler's 'Final Solution' in the West it was disbelieved that such a massive slaughter was even imaginable. What helped the Nazis in their roundup of Jews was the use by French police of their new perforated-card [IBM?] technology.

'For the most part, French police cooperated with their German colleagues.' In Nov. of 1942, as German troops swept into France, 8 departments (states) in southeastern France were occupied by their Italian allies who absolutely refused any of Hitler's Jew deportation orders. They also refused to have the ration books of any Jews stamped with JUIF. Even when French police tried to arrest Jews, Italians stopped them.

It seems the French concentration camps where they kept Jews destined for the huge Auschwitz complex were even worse than the camps the Germans used. 'It took 3 days to reach Auschwitz. There, Jews apt for hard physical labor were sometimes put to work in the I.G. Farben plants [read Hell's Cartel ~ Diarmuid Jeffreys] attached to the Auschwitz camp, under conditions that few survived. Most Jews were killed at once.'