In memory of the 60 children of the 12^th

November 13, 2008

Time passes so quickly… An event took place on November 13, 2008 that we are only reporting today.

That hardly matters, however, for memory remains alive to recall the three hundred and fifty children who lived in the twelfth arrondissement and were destroyed by the Vichy laws. Sixty of them were not yet at school; the youngest was six days old.

The Association for the Memory of the Deported Jewish Children of the 12^th, Madame Blumenthal, Mayor of the 12^th, and the municipal team unveiled a memorial in remembrance of these children, too young to go to school.

Many classes from the neighbourhood schools were there, with a choir and a small orchestra. The large audience was deeply moved to hear these children’s voices and the string instruments speak of remembrance. A release of white balloons, each labelled with a child’s name, closed the ceremony, which could be extended with a double exhibition in the town hall foyer, where emotion continued to stir in everyone looking at the panels.

Facing each other: on one side, the deported children whose names appear in the exhibition created by S. Klarsfeld; on the other, the Marcel network, which saved 527.