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In a ceremony, preceded by President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and other authorities, France commemorates the 80th anniversary of the capture of Jews in Paris and its surroundings, under the orders of Nazi Germany, in World War II. Borne promised that her country will fight anti-Semitism “wherever she wants it to be.”
Eight decades have passed since France experienced one of the worst chapters in history against Jewish communities, but the threat of anti-Semitism remains.
This has been pointed out by the French authorities during the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Vél d’Hiv, the name given to the then velodrome in Paris, where hundreds of Jewish families were taken before being sent to concentration camps.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne promised that her country’s government will fight anti-Semitism “wherever it is found.”
But the political leader also pointed to failures of the French state that worsened that bitter chapter of World War II, under siege by Nazi Germany and its predecessor Adolf Hitler.
“The French state went beyond the requirements of the Nazis. They delivered children. They were sent to die. Their stories will never leave us, their words are engraved in the spirits of the youth who listen to those horrible testimonies (…) To maintain its honor, our country must look its history in the face,” said Borne, who is the daughter of a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
President Emmanuel Macron has also raised concerns about the persistent threat of anti-Semitism, which “still lurks and sometimes insidiously,” an official in the head of state’s office said.
Throughout the ceremony, Macron is scheduled to denounce “historical revisionism,” in particular the role of France’s wartime leader Philippe Petain, who collaborated with the Nazi regime.
For the commemorative event, which is also attended by historians and some survivors of the concentration camps, the top officials moved to the old Pithivier train station, about 100 km south of Paris, used to from there, transport and deport detainees to Auschwitz.
The venue, which has not seen passengers since the late 1960s, has been turned into a Holocaust memorial that opened earlier this month.
“This station is the place where the events in France become European genocide (…) It is a unique place of memory” in the country, said Jacques Fredj, director of the Shoah Memorial, which commemorates the French deportations.
Vel d’Hiv, one of the darkest chapters in French history
On July 16 and 17, 1942, around 13,000 Jews were taken from their homes in Paris and towns around the city, by French officials working under the orders of the Nazi occupiers.
Most were initially transferred to the Vélodrome d’Hiver stadium in Paris, where they were held.
Many of those arrested passed through the Pithivier train station and 4,115 of them were children, according to official data.
80 years ago today, the Vél’ d’Hiv roundup started. It was the largest arrest of Jews in France during the Holocaust.
Over 13,000 Jews were taken from their homes, detained and deported to concentration camps. Only 800 survived.
It is our responsibility to remember them. pic.twitter.com/t5uWVY7LiV
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) July 17, 2022
Among the victims, the French police took the elderly and sick to that Velodrome, a bicycle racing track in the 15th district of Paris.
From there, they were sent to Nazi concentration camps. Only a few dozen returned.
In 1995, 50 years after the raids, then President Jacques Chirac recognized the responsibility of the French State for what happened.
“France that day committed the irreparable,” said Chirac, in the midst of what is now considered a historic speech.
However, “French society is not yet done with anti-Semitism,” Macron’s office noted.
With AFP and local media
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