us-005578-irn721921-irn514369
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Dr. Gaston Crouzet was born on December 25, 1881, in St. Felix de Lodez, France. He and his wife Irene had a son Robert, who was born on April 21, 1910, in Aignes-Vives. They had another child, who moved to Madagascar with thier spoused and son Jean before the war. The family was Catholic and lived in the center of Marseille where Gaston was a general practitioner. Robert was a public notary. In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France. An armistice was signed in June, giving control of Paris and northern France to Germany. A Free Zone was established in the south, governed by Marechal Petain, known as the Vichy Regime. Gaston became a central member of the French resistance in Marseille. His primary responsibility was gathering information about German troop transports to North Africa and relaying the information to the British. Gaston’s network of contacts included an architect who would gather the information from German officers and relay it to Crouzet. His son Robert worked alongside him. In May 1943, Gaston and Robert were denounced by another resistance member. They were arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo for several days. They were then sent to Centre Penitentiaire de Fresnes near Paris and then to Compiegne internment camp. On January 29, 1944, they were deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Gaston was assigned prisoner number 44158; Robert was number 44159. Both Robert and Gaston were able to correspond occasionally with Irene. On March 18, 1944, the men were separated when Gaston was transferred to Neuengamme, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen. On October 8, 1944, he was sent to Flossenbürg concentration camp near the Czech border. Gaston worked as a locksmith in the camps. In mid-April 1945 as Allied forces neared, the SS began evacuating the camp. When members of the 358th and 359th Infantry Regiments, 90th US Infantry Division, liberated Flossenbürg on April 23, 1945, just over 1500 prisoners remained in the camp, and 200 died soon after li…
has beginning date: 1943-01-01
has end date: 1960-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 685
has or had subject: 843
has or had subject: 701
has or had subject: 43
has or had subject: 341
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn514369
is or was included in: us-005578-irn721921
record resource extent: folder 1
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The collection consists of documents including a menu written by inmates at Flossenbürg concentration camp, correspondence received by Irene Crouzet from her husband and son, Dr. Gaston and Robert Crouzet, while they were interned in several different concentration camps, and a photograph of Ambroise Cognac.
title: Crouzet family papers