The House Commonly known as “House of Izieu”, the building is located in the hamlet of Lélinaz in the commune of Izieu. In 1835, this large “master house” already had a long terrace and a vast garden that included an orchard and a pond for raising fish. Next to it is a farm with barns, a former silkworm farm and its oven. Before 1939, the owners of the “Villa Anne-Marie” rented their house in summer to vacation camps, through the intermediary of the bishopric of Belley. The comfort was rudimentary since the house had neither running water nor a bathroom. The spring water from the pond was used for washing and daily chores. In winter, heating was provided by wood stoves. In 1943-1944, the house hosted the colony of refugee children from the Hérault. After the 1950s, the house was occupied by private individuals, who sold it to the “Musée-mémorial d’Izieu” association in 1990. In 1988, after the trial against Klaus Barbie, the association “Memorial museum of Izieu” is founded; its first goal is to buy the house to create a museum whose central topic are the jewish children of Izieu and the crimes against humanity. © Studio Erick Saillet Today, the house is a place of remembrance dedicated to the 44 children and 7 adults deported on April 6, 1944. Rather than reconstructing the house exactly, the museography instead evokes the atmosphere of the home’s era and the void left behind by the deported children. In this way, the house portrays the children’s daily life. Discreet signs indicate how each room was used; the children’s letters and drawings are displayed in the refectory; a portrait of each child who was arrested on 6 April 1944, and then deported, features in the dormitories. Animated short film that can be discovered in the House The Magic lantern of the children of Izieu Together with the 21-year-old chef of the house, Philippe Dehan, who shares his love of film with them, the children of Izieu draw and invent stories in the form of drawn rolls that are intended to be projected in the light of a light source according to the principle of a magic lantern – a device that allows images to be projected onto a screen or wall like a film roll. For this screening, the children read out their stories like real scripts and interpreted the dialogues and set the stories to music with sounds. In the spirit of these performances, after the tour of the house you can watch an animated short film with the first episode dedicated to the story ‘Iwan Tsarawich’. The voices and sounds were produced by a class at the Collège de Vaulx-en-Velin. The animation studio Parmi les lucioles films, in collaboration with the Maison d’Izieu and the Émile Cohl School of Art, has attempted to continue the cinematic intention of the children of the House of Izieu in a short animated film that remains faithful to their drawings and adopts their stories. Can be discovered after the guided tour of the museum, included in the standard ticket or the ticket for a themed tour. The Maison d’Izieu would like to thank in particular the municipalities in the region Bugey-Sud for their help in installing this new element, the Fondation Solidarités by Crédit Agricole Centre-Est, the Fondation Crédit Agricole Pays de France, the Fondation Mérieux, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, the Endowment fund Sabine Zlatin, the Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the DILCRAH – Délégation Interministérielle à la Lutte Contre le Racisme, l’Antisémitisme et la Haine anti-LGBT and the 467 contributors who, by their contribution to the financing, made possible the realisation of the first episodeof the magic lantern of the Children of Izieu. READ MORE Plaques on the façade of the house Commemorative plaque with the names of the children and adults who were deported, Maison d’Izieu © Y.Perrin In 1946, during the commemoration of 7 April, a first plaque was put on the right hand side of the house. It is a reminder of the history of the roundup and how the children and their carers were deported. It lists the name and age of each of the deported children and adults: « Le 6 avril 1944, jour du Jeudi Saint, 44 enfants de la Maison d’Izieu étaient arrêtés par les Allemands, avec leurs maîtres, puis déportés le 15 avril 1944. Quarante-et-un enfants et cinq de leurs maîtres furent exterminés dans les chambres à gaz d’Auschwitz. Le directeur de la colonie et deux garçons furent fusillés dans la forteresse de Revel. » “On 6 April 1944, on Maundy Thursday, 44 children from the Maison d’Izieu were arrested by the Germans, with their educators, and then deported on 15 April 1944. Forty-one children and five of their educators were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The director of the home and two boys were shot in Reval castle.” Fritz Loebman’s name was added to the plaque at the inauguration of the Izieu Memorial Museum in 1994, which had been omitted in 1946. The names of the deported children and adults are read in front of this plaque for the commemorations in April. Commemorative plaque of 1990 © Maison d’Izieu In 1990, after the house was purchased by the association, Sabine Zlatin decided to put up a second plaque to the left of the main entrance. The text engraved on it talks about the history of the site and life in the home before the roundup: « Ici, sous le nom de « colonie d’enfants réfugiés de l’Hérault », Sabine Zlatin, infirmière de la Croix-Rouge, assistante sociale de l’Hérault, et Miron Zlatin, ingénieur agronome, ont fondé le 10 avril 1943, la « Maison d’Izieu » pour y recueillir des enfants juifs. » “Here, under the name of “the Hérault Refugee Children’s Home”, Sabine Zlatin, a Red Cross nurse and social worker from Hérault, and Miron Zlatin, an agricultural engineer, founded the “Maison d’Izieu” on 10 April 1943 to take in Jewish children.” Inauguration plaque, 1994 © Maison d’Izieu In 1994, a third plaque was put up between the two doors of the house. It commemorates the inauguration of the memorial by François Mitterrand, President of the Republic, on Sunday 24 April 1994.