A Moroccan Jew, Maxi Librati was arrested in Lyon at the age of 18, in April 1943. He was sent to Drancy, then deported to Auschwitz on 2 September,and was one of the three survivors out of a convoy of 1,000. From Auschwitz he was sent in October 1943 to the ruins of the former Ghetto, where he participated in the recuperating work of raw materials for the Germans. As the Soviet armies kept gaining ground, the Germans decided to evacuate the concentration camp from the Ghetto. At the end of July 1944, they imposed an inhuman « forced march » of some 75 miles in four days on the prisoners (the « march of survivors ») Following this march, Maxi Librati and his companions were taken to Dachau under terrible conditions. The survivors were finally liberated by the American army on 30 April, 1945. Librati was repatriated to France on 22 May 1945 and reunited with his family which had escaped the deportations. He was 20 years old at the time and weighed a mere 75 lbs or so.
