The president (LR) of the department returned to his wish to eliminate the subsidy paid to this place of memory which maintains the memory of Jewish children who died in deportation, after having sparked a controversy against a backdrop of budgetary savings.
The department of Ain reversed its decision to eliminate a subsidy in 2025 to the Maison d'Izieu Memorial, which keeps alive the memory of Jewish children who died in deportation, and announced on Sunday that it would finally pay some “a part”. “We fully understand the emotion aroused by the initial decision not to pay a subsidy to the association managing the Maison d’Izieu for the year 2025”declares the president of Les Républicains of the department Jean Deguerry in a press release.
Voices were raised to protest after the revelation in the press that the department would not pay a subsidy in 2025 to the Maison d'Izieu for reasons of budgetary constraints. The department's socialist senator Florence Blatrix-Contat expressed her “stupefaction” faced with the removal of “the annual subsidy of 50,000 euros allocated to the Maison d’Izieu Memorial Museum”.
On Sunday, the community tried to justify a decision «difficile» Who “was part of a global savings plan, necessary to enable the Department of Ain to complete its budget in a context of strong financial tensions”.
This decision “in no way called into question our unwavering support for the Maison d’Izieu, an emblematic place of memory and education”assures the department. The decision was “punctual” for the year 2025, “white year”specifies Jean Deguerry.
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The terrible story of the Jewish children of Izieu, rounded up by the Nazis in 1944
After discussion with the association managing the Maison d'Izieu, the department finally judged “essential to maintain part of this subsidy”. Asked by AFP, the department was not immediately able to give a precise amount. “We will make this effort, despite our financial constraints, because we are deeply convinced of the need to preserve this important place of memory”explains Jean Deguerry in the press release.
Between May 1943 and April 1944, around a hundred children found refuge in the Izieu colony, founded by Sabine Zlatin, a Jewish resistance fighter of Polish origin. On April 6, 1944, the 44 Jewish children aged 4 to 12 welcomed in this place on the edge of the village were rounded up by the Lyon Gestapo on the orders of Klaus Barbie, with their seven educators, also Jewish. All were deported to the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) and Reval (Estonia). Only one educator survived.
President Emmanuel Macron came to Izieu in April for the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the roundup.
