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Only Survivor of 6,000 Jewish Children Deported From France Dies, Aged 97
The sign “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work makes you free”) is pictured at the main gate of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Ulatowski
JNS.org — Henri Borlant, the sole survivor of the 6,000 Jewish children under the age of 16 who were deported from France to Auschwitz in 1942, died on Dec. 3, aged 97.
Borlant spoke often of his experiences to schools. In 2011, he published a book, Merci d’avoir survécu (Thank you for surviving). The title came from a note he received from a 15-year-old boy who heard the story of his deportation.
The Shoah Memorial saluted his memory in a tweet.
Le Mémorial de la Shoah présente ses sincères condoléances à son épouse Hella, à leurs filles et à l’ensemble de sa famille.
Le Mémorial de la Shoah salue la mémoire d’une figure de la mémoire de la Shoah en France, profondément humble et engagée.#hommage #temoin #shoah pic.twitter.com/LBqAPQIudF
— Mémorial de la Shoah (@Shoah_Memorial) December 4, 2024
Born Hirsch Borlant in Paris on June 5, 1927, Henri was the fourth of 10 children. His parents were naturalized French citizens from Russia.
In 1939, the French authorities evacuated Paris’s 13th arrondissement and in August, his family fled to Maine-et-Loire in Anjou in western France.
Borlant recounted that they were warmly welcomed by the locals and had no idea what lay in store for them. As a precaution, the children, who were educated at a Catholic school, were baptized. Borlant became a Catholic.
On July 15, 1942, his mother, brother Bernard, sister Denise and he were arrested by German soldiers. “They had a list and took everyone who was between 15 and 50 years old,” he said.
Two days later, his mother, Rachel, was released and replaced by his father, Aron. No explanation was given, according to an interview he gave to the Maine-et-Loire region website.
On July 20, 1942, Henri, his brother, sister and father were crammed into cattle cars with 824 others and deported in convoy No. 8 from Angers to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Shoah Memorial said.
As he was transported, he tossed out a note: “Dear Mom, it seems that we are going to Ukraine to harvest.” The letter reached his mother thanks to a railway worker.
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, his sister was killed immediately. His father and brother also would not survive the camp.
“Our extermination was planned, programmed,” he wrote in his book. “We knew that we were living our last moments. The hope that all this would be known one day fueled our will to survive.”
As the Red Army closed in, he was transferred by train to the Sachsenhausen camp, then sent to the Oranienburg camp to work in the Heinkel aircraft factory. In November 1944, Henri was transferred to Ohrdruf-Buchenwald, a Buchenwald annex camp.
Borlant managed to escape from Ohrdruf-Buchenwald shortly before the Americans arrived, hiding with an anti-Nazi meat seller.
He was repatriated to France on April 16, 1945, and reunited with his mother and siblings, who were not deported and survived.
Borlant suffered from tuberculosis on his return, but managed to study medicine and become a doctor.
Like many survivors, he kept his experiences secret, but in the 1990s, he began to speak of what he endured and collect testimonies within the association Témoignage pour mémoire. He was a member of the Foundation for the Memory of the Deportation and served on the educational commission of the Shoah Memorial.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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