Translated  from the biography established by the AFMD (Friends of the Foundation for the Memory of Deportation from the Allier Department):

 Joseph BRAUN

Joseph Braun was born on February 28, 1911 in Warsaw, Poland. He was the son of Majer Braun and Ruchla née KRZYP, and the brother of Lazare (known as Léon).

He entered France on May 5, 1929 and lived at n° 66 rue Dulong in Paris’s 17^th district. He was employed as a mechanic at the United States Embassy, Place de la Concorde in the 8^th district of Paris.

On February 8, 1935 he married Marie-Louise TURQUETIL in the 16th district of Paris. They had no children.

He left Paris to seek safety first in La Bourboule (Puy-de-Dôme department), then in Vichy (Allier department), where he arrived on August 1, 1940. He lived at several addresses in Vichy: 65 rue de Paris, then 17 rue Faidherbe, then 37 rue de Givois, before settling at the Bois Randenais in Brugeas (Allier) on October 28, 1941.  He continued to work for the U.S. embassy until his arrest on May 14, 1944 in Brugeas “for stealing a large quantity of gasoline tickets from the Production Industrielle in Vichy”, according to the police report of December, 28, 1954.

Interned in the prison of Cusset (Allier department) with his brother Lazare, he had his wife slip 10,000 francs to the guard, Marcel FOURNIER, to help them escape. The attempt failed. The guard was sentenced to 6 years in prison and a fine of 60,000 francs. Joseph BRAUN was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a fine of 60,000 francs, and his wife to a suspended sentence of 6 months in prison and a 20,000 franc fine. He was then transferred to the La Mal-Coiffée German military prison in Moulins (Allier department).

He was transported on May 19, 1944 from Moulins to Drancy, where he was attributed the I.D. n° 22635.

On July 31, 1944 he was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz in convoy n° 77.

(Source of the above document: Mémorial de la Shoah C 77_8)

In  Le Mémorial de la Déportation des Juifs de France, Serge Klarsfeld writes about convoy n° 77: “The number of deportees was 1300. This convoy 77 (…) hauled toward the Auschwitz gas chambers more than 300 children under the age of 18. (…) 291 men were selected with I.D. numbers B 3673 to B 3963; the same for 283 women (A 16457 to A 16739). In 1945 there were 209 survivors, of whom 141 were women”.

He died on August 5, 1944 at Auschwitz, Poland according to the Journal Officiel n° 59 of March 11, 2010.

Note: The 20,000 franc fine inflicted on Marie Louise BRAUN née TURQUETIL on August 11, 1943 was remitted by decree on November 26, 1944.

Sources:

– Archives of the Allier Department 1289 W 66, 1580 W 7, 740 W 3/1, 762 W 53, 1864 W 1,

– Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center C 77_8

– Public Records Bureau of Paris’s 16th district

– Klarsfeld, Serge: List of the transfers to Drancy on July 15, 1944

– Klarsfeld, Serge:  Memorial to the Jews Deported from France: 1942-1944  1978

– MemorialGenWeb  Internet site