On July 16 & 17, 1942, one of the darkest moments of occupied Paris started early in the morning before anyone opened their eyes.
One month before on June 16, Frenchman and secretary general of the Vichy government René Bousquet agreed with Nazi officials to round up 40,000 Jews from occupied Paris. This was just a small slice of the 110,000 they wanted from Western Europe. The “Swan Wind” would take part in Paris, Nancy, and the Marne, the most successful being that of Paris.
On May 14, 1941, 3700 Jews of mostly Eastern European background living in Paris were gathered. Over 6,600 Jews were sent a “green ticket” summons to their home and told to gather at one of the numerous meeting locations. They were allowed to bring one person with them. Many believed it was just a normal examination and complied. Upon arrival, they were immediately sent off in busses to the Gare de Austerlitz and deported eventually arriving at Auschwitz and their death.
Fourteen months later it was time to do it again. More people were aware of their tactics but also thought Parisian Jews were to be spared. At 4:00 am a mass roundup of Jewish families began, led by French soldiers under the order of Vichy officials. On July 16, the “ticket holders” arrived at their meeting points. A few families heard rumors in advance and were able to flee but 13,152 family members weren’t so lucky. 4,992 men and women without children were immediately taken to the train station and taken to Drancy to await deportation.
As the buses arrived at the Velodrome as seen in the only photo known to this day the number was staggering. 8,160 people of that 4,115 children, 2,916 women, and 1,129 men. The conditions were horrible. The Germans painted the massive glass ceiling black, the windows were nailed shut and only five restrooms were in use. There wasn’t any food or water, it was a hot muggy summer and the smells were horrible. To make matters worse, as soon as they arrived they were all separated leaving the children alone with each other.
For five days it was as bad as they thought it could get, until they began to send them to Drancy and other camps that led to the trains to Auschwitz. The women and men went first on August 5, then the children two weeks later. Children were as young as 4 years old, without their parents alone, hungry and scared. It’s hard to even imagine.
The Velodrome was a sports arena built near the Eiffel Tower in 1909 by Henri Desgrange, editor of l’Auto and creator of the Tour de France. The arena held 17,000 spectators and weekly cycling races, concerts, roller skating & boxing matches that Hemingway attended in the 1920s. When the Germans arrived they demanded the keys to the building.
A fire destroyed it in 1959 and today holds a garden and memorial to those lost. The Jardin Mémorial des Enfants du Vel d’Hiv’, created in 2017 and inaugurated on the 75th anniversary of the tragic event. The somber garden is located at the former entrance of the Velodrome and is dominated by the marble wall engraved with the names of the 4,115 children. Under the trees are photos and stories of many of the children and families that were killed. White rocks of different sizes dot the garden reminiscent of the pebbles left on Jewish tombs.
It’s very difficult to see but also very important and the least we can do is to remember those little lives that never had a chance to grow up because of hatred.
Paulette Zajac Born 11 Juillet, 1937, lived at 62 rue des Cascades in the 20e
Deported 17 August 1942, at 5 years old
Brucha Gaut born 14 September 1931, 275 due de Bellvielle 19e
Parents Chaskiel & Malka were deported on caravans 4 & 14
Brucha was deported alone at 10 years old on 21 August caravan 19
Renee Goldman-Lewin
18 rue d’Auberville 19e
Mother Gilda was deported first on convoy 16
Renee was deported alone on caravan 22, August 21
Grosbard family, 16 rue de Charonne 11e
Father Ela - convoy #1
Mother Pessa- Convoy #16
Older kids Frymeta 16 and Chain 13 on August 5 convoy 15
Sima was deported alone at 5 years old in convoy 23
Jablonka family of 10
3 oldest kids were all deported alone and separately
5 younger people were deported together a week later
Parents went in convoys 1 and 4
Helen & Charles Holstein 7 and 2 ½
Parents from Warsaw, lived at 129 Faubourg du Temple 10e
Father caravan 10
Kids with mother August 21
Near the former Vel d’Hiv above the Seine is the Square de la Place des Martyrs Juif de Vélodrome d'Hiver. Renamed and dedicated by Mayor Jacques Chirac in remembrance of those lost to the hatred of the Nazis of WWII. Sculptor Walter Spitzer created the monument Memorial of the Victims of the Winter Velodrome. Spitzer, a Polish-born artist who at 16 years old in 1943 was deported to the Blechhammer, labor camp at Auschwitz.
After he was released in 1945, he immigrated to France and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Spitzer devoted his entire life to creating art dedicated to the remembrance of those lost in WWII at the hands of the Nazis.
Vichy official René Bousquet was a high-ranking official until the end of the war “pledging” his allegiance to the Resistance to save his own skin. In 1989 a crime against humanity was filed against him. On June 8, 1993, he was killed in the doorway of his 16e home by Christian Didier who wanted to avenge the deaths of so many Jews carried out by Bousquet.
In 1995, Jacques Chirac at the yearly ceremony, for the first time acknowledged France’s role in this horrible event. On July 16, 2017, President Macron took a more rigid stance saying “It was indeed France that organized this”.
Each year on the Sunday closest to July 16 a ceremony is held and flowers are left in remembrance. Check out my Live video last Sunday that began at the Statue of Liberty and ended at the two somber yet beautiful memorials.