Robert Badinter was only 14 years old on February 9, 1943, when his father, Simon, was rounded up with 85 other Jews on rue Sainte-Catherine in Lyon. Of the 86 Jews deported that day to the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor (for his father) and Bergen-Belsen, only three returned alive in 1945.
His uncle, Naftoul, has already been deported to Auschwitz, as has his paternal grandmother, Shindléa, aged 80 and who died during the journey.