Victor Young Perez (2013) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Victor Perez was arrested in Paris on September 21, 1943, during the Nazi occupation of France. As a Jewish athlete with public recognition, he became a target of Nazi persecution. His arrest marked the turning point from his life as a world champion to his deportation to the concentration camps.

• victor perez arrest
• paris 1943
• nazi occupation
• deportation

After his arrest, Perez was first detained at the Drancy internment camp in France. He was then deported as part of Transport 60 and arrived at Auschwitz on October 10, 1943. He was assigned to the Monowitz subcamp, where he endured slave labor and forced boxing matches for the SS.

• transport 60
• auschwitz
• drancy internment camp
• monowitz

The SS forced Perez to fight boxing matches for their entertainment and amusement. These brutal bouts were conducted under oppressive camp conditions, with guards using his skills as a perverse form of sport. The regime exploited his boxing reputation to create a twisted spectacle amid the horrors of the concentration camp.

• ss guards
• forced boxing
• auschwitz boxing
• ss entertainment

Over approximately 15 months in the Monowitz camp, Perez fought around 140 boxing matches. His extraordinary stamina and refusal to give up allowed him to survive these brutal repeated bouts. The sheer number of fights under such extreme conditions testifies to his remarkable resilience.

• 140 matches
• monowitz boxing
• survival boxing
• camp fights

Perez survived the death march that began on January 18, 1945, as Allied forces advanced on Auschwitz. The film concludes with his survival of this forced march, continuing his struggle beyond the camp gates. Historical records indicate he eventually returned to France after the war.

• death march 1945
• auschwitz liberation
• survival
• allied forces

His boxing prowess provided him a means of survival in the camp. While other prisoners were killed or worked to death, Perez was kept alive specifically to fight for the SS entertainment. The skills that made him a champion became his only protection against the extermination camp's systematic killing.

• boxing survival
• champion skills
• camp survival
• resilience

Transport 60 was the specific deportation train that carried Victor Perez from Drancy to Auschwitz on October 10, 1943. This transport was one of many that systematically sent Jewish prisoners to the extermination camps. Perez's inclusion in this transport sealed his fate in the Nazi death camp system.

• transport 60
• deportation train
• jewish prisoners
• nazi transport

Mireille Balin was a French-Italian actress with whom Victor Perez had a romantic liaison during the height of his boxing fame in the 1930s. Their relationship connected the world of European cinema with his athletic career, representing the human dimension of his life before the war.

• mireille balin
• love affair
• actress
• 1930s romance

Victor Perez became the youngest world champion in boxing history by winning the IBU World Flyweight title in 1931 at just 20 years old. He claimed the championship by defeating Frankie Genaro via second-round knockout. His achievement as a Tunisian Jewish athlete rising to international fame made him a historic figure in boxing.

• world champion
• flyweight title
• youngest champion
• frankie genaro

Monowitz was a subcamp of Auschwitz III where Victor Perez was held as a slave laborer. Located near the Polish town of Oswiecim, it was part of the larger Auschwitz complex. Prisoners in Monowitz were forced to work at the adjacent IG Farben industrial plant under brutal conditions.

• monowitz
• auschwitz iii
• slave labor
• ig farben