Deportation of French Jews 1942.

70 ans après, les jeunes ignorent ce qu’est la rafle du Vel d’Hiv

A very dark and shameful period in recent French history is being commemorated in Paris this week.

Les 16 et 17 juillet 1942, 8.160 Juifs étrangers étaient raflés à Paris et enfermés au Vélodrome d’hiver, avant d’être déportés. Les commémorations des 70 ans de la rafle du Vel d’Hiv démarrent lundi à 11h. Mais selon un sondage CSA, une majorité (57 à 67%) des moins de 35 ans ne sait pas de quoi il s’agit.

Le monument du square de la place des Martyrs Juifs du Velodrome d’Hiver © Maxppp Christophe Petit Tesson

Un sondage bien inquiétant pour la mémoire collective. 67% des 15-17 ans, 60% des 18-24 ans, et 57% des 25-34 ans répondent “non” à la question : “Avez-vous déjà entendu parler de la rafle du Vel d’Hiv?”, selon ce sondage CSA. Mais 25% des plus de 65 ans n’en ont pas non plus entendu parler, pour une moyenne tous âges confondus de 42%.

On 16 and 17 July 1942, 13.152 Jews were arrested by the Paris Gendarmes and left in the stadium Vélodrome d’hiver in the XVth arrondissement in inhuman conditions. 

Il s’agit pourtant de la plus grande rafle de Juifs en France sous l’Occupation. Les 16 et 17 juillet 1942, 13.152 Juifs étrangers étaient arrêtés par la police parisienne, 8.160 étaient enfermés au Vélodrome d’hiver, un stade près de la Seine (XVème arrondissement). Retenus dans des conditions inhumaines, entassés sur les gradins du stade, la majorité a ensuite été déporté. Parmi ceux du “Vel d’Hiv”, moins d’une centaine – aucun enfant – survécurent.

In Drancy, a suburb of Paris thousands of French jews were rounded up in police raids and held in dreadful conditions awaiting deportation to the German and Polish concentration camps. Today is a special day of rememberance, tstarting at 11 am.

Commémorations dès lundi 11 heures à Drancy

Les commémorations débutent lundi à 11 heures à la cité de la Muette devant l’ancien camp d’internement où furent déportés vers les camps d’extermination des milliers de Juifs, notamment ceux du Vel d’Hiv. En parallèle, une cérémonie est prévue à Jérusalem au mémorial de Yad Vashem. Puis la commémoration se poursuivra dimanche 22 juillet à Paris, sur les lieux de l’ancien Vélodrome d’Hiver, détruit en 1959, en présence du président de la République François Hollande.

The French Gendarmes can never erase the black spot that exists in an otherwise proud tradition of the protectors of the people. Gendarmes, ‘armed people’ collaborated with the Nazis to exterminate the Jews. Another holding point, in Compiegne, about 100kms north of Paris served as a deportation and holding point before the trains left for Auschwitz.

In a recent survey it was revealed that more the half the people, under 35 years of age, who were asked about this dreadful exercise were unaware of the raids by the Gendarmes on the Jewish population in 1942. This is the 70th anniversary. Only 40 people survived. 8 still live in Isreal.

Des 8.160 personnes enfermées au Vel d’Hiv, ne reste que 40 survivants, dont 8 habitent en Israël. A

Hasard du calendrier, dimanche le criminel nazi le plus recherché au monde a été retrouvé.

By pure co-incidence a nazi criminal, wanted for crimes against humanity has been found in Budapest.

Le criminel nazi le plus recherché au monde retrouvé à Budapest

Laszlo Csatary a été retrouvé à Budapest, en Hongrie. Agé de 97 ans, il est accusé d’avoir contribué à la déportation de 15.700 juifs pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. Le procureur de Budapest avait lancé une enquête en septembre 2011, mais il n’avait pas été arrêté

Laszlo Csatary, age 97 years, is wanted for deportation of 15,700 jews during WWII.

Laszlo Csatary est accusé de complicité dans la déportation d’environ 15.700 juifs vers les camps de mort, en particulier Auschwitz, surtout en 1944. Il a été chef de la police du ghetto juif de la ville de Kosice, en Hongrie, où il était connu pour faire fouetter les habitants.

He was police chief in the Hungarian town of Kosice and he is complicite in the rounding up and deportation of jews to the death camps. The Hungarian authosities launched an investigation into his whereabouts in Sept 2011 following representation from the Simon Weisenthal centre and an English journalist.

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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