Tribute to Gabriel Benichou who passed away on July 23, 2025 at the age of 99
Born in Tlemcen, Algeria, on December 15, 1926, Gabriel Bénichou comes from a French Jewish family. Gabriel is excluded from school due to the anti-Jewish laws of Vichy in 1940 and 1941 which restrict access to school education for Jews in Algeria.
His sister who lived in Marseille obtained his acceptance at the Saint Charles high school. He spent the school years 1941-1942 and 1942-1943 there.
He was arrested on April 8, 1943 and brought to the Saint Pierre prison where he remained until April 20, 1943. He was then interned at the Drancy camp (from April 21, 1943 to July 18, 1943). He is deported, with his sister and brother-in-law, to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 18, 1943 by Convoy No. 57.
In October 1943, he is transferred inside the Warsaw ghetto for cleaning after its destruction.
He undergoes the death marches to Kutno (Poland) then is transferred to the Dachau camp. He undergoes a second death march to the camps of Kaufering, Landsberg and Bad Tölz (Germany). He is released on May 2, 1945.
He is repatriated to metropolitan France and then to Algeria. His sister has not returned.
Gabriel had written his testimony in L'Adolescence d'un juif d'Algérie, published by L'Harmattan.
In 2016, he was decorated as an "officer of the legion of honor" at the town hall of the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
The Shoah Memorial offers its most sincere condolences to his family.
From left to right,
Portrait of Gabriel Bénichou, deported from Drancy on 18/07/1943. Algeria, © 1940/ Memorial of the Shoah
Gabriel Bénichou, flag bearer during a ceremony at the Kaufering camp, satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp. Germany, 26/04/1998. © Memorial of the Shoah/Coll. Catherine Chalfine
© Thierry Flavian/ Shoah Memorial
Discover the testimony of Gabriel Bénichou
