History of the convoy 16
After the Vél’ d’Hiv round-up, 7618 Jews (couples or women with children) were transferred to the Loiret, 4244 to Pithiviers and 3374 to Beaune la Rolande. Couples without children and singles were transferred to Drancy (4992).
In many of these families, the husbands had been arrested in May 1941 and deported from Pithiviers or Beaune la Rolande by one of convoys 4, 5 or 6.
Convoy 16 left Pithiviers on August 7, 1942 at 6:15 a.m., bound for Auschwitz.
It transported 1069 Jews, including 864 women. 300 were under 18 years of age.
Many families were split up and spread over several convoys. In addition, young children were separated from their mothers and left alone and then transferred to Drancy from where they were deported to Auschwitz.
Upon arrival at the camp, 795 were gassed.
At liberation, there were 6 survivors, 5 of whom were women.