Commemoration of the Vel d’Hiv round-up

July 11, 2013

On the occasion of the “National day in memory of the victims of the racist and antisemitic crimes of the French State and in tribute to the Righteous of France”, the commemoration of the Vel d’Hiv round-up will be held on:

Sunday, July 21
at 9.45 a.m.

at the Memorial to the Vel d’Hiv round-up
Place des Martyrs juifs du Vel d’Hiv
Quai de Grenelle
75015 Paris
(Métro Bir-Hakeim)

On this occasion, Sabine Gagnier, granddaughter of Pastor Pierre Gagnier and his wife Hélène, named Righteous Among the Nations in 2010, will give her testimony.

The Vel d’Hiv round-up

On July 16 and 17, 1942, 1,129 men, 2,916 women and 4,115 children were arrested by the French police and shut up in the Vélodrome d’Hiver sports arena.

At the same time, 1,989 men and 3,003 women – childless couples and single people – were arrested and held in the Drancy camp.

In the camps of Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers, the young children – about 3,000 – were brutally separated from their parents, who were deported first.

The children were transferred to Drancy and deported between August 17 and 31, 1942. Almost all of the 13,152 people rounded up were deported.