Uncovering Sabine's Remembrance Site: the Untold History Behind the Memorial
By James H. Sterling
In May 1943, Sabine Zlatin, known affectionately to the children as "la Dame d'Izieu," secured permission from the prefectural administration of the Ain department to relocate dozens of Jewish children from refugee camps near the Mediterranean coast to an isolated estate in Izieu. Nestled between Lyon and Chambéry, the house operated under the radar of occupying forces, providing brief normalcy complete with lessons, countryside walks, and handwritten letters sent to parents interned elsewhere.
That fragile refuge broke on the morning of April 6, 1944. Acting on direct orders from Lyon Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, two Wehrmacht trucks arrived unannounced. Fifty-one occupants were forced inside. Sabine Zlatin, who had traveled to Montpellier attempting to secure safer papers for the children, escaped capture. Her husband, Miron Zlatin, and 43 of the 44 children were subsequently murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau; one older boy was shot alongside Miron in Tallinn, Estonia. Only one adult educator, Léa Feldblum, survived the extermination camps.
When Zlatin returned to the abandoned house days later, she found clothes scattered across the floor, half-eaten food on the dining table, and dozens of drawings pinned to the walls. She gathered every notebook, letter, and sketch she could carry. Those rescued artifacts formed the baseline of what would eventually become one of Europe's most significant grassroots heritage archives.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
