The 70th anniversary of the mass deportation of Jews from France in WWII was commemorated on Monday, as participants paid tribute to the some 13,000 Jews who were sent to death camps from Nazi-occupied France on July 16 and 17, 1942.
Popularly referred to as the “raid of the Velodrome d’Hiver”, after the former internment camp close to the River Seine where the Jews were held prior to their deportation, the site where the memorial ceremony took place now houses a monument to the victims of the atrocity.
An official memorial commemoration on the grounds of the former Velodrome d’Hiver, which was destroyed in 19159, will be held on July 22 in Paris, in the presence of French President Francois Hollande.
At a monument to the deportations, the families of Holocaust victims, and Jewish community members laid flowers in tribute, as it emerged that between 57-67% of young persons under 35 have no knowledge of the tragedy, according to the results of a poll published Monday.
The survey, commissioned by the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF) found that 57% of 25-34 year-olds, increasing to 67% of 15-17 year-olds responded “no” when asked if they had ever heard of the raid of the Velodrome d’Hiver.
Rabbi Moche Lewin, spokesman for the Chief Rabbi of France denounced the “incredible Nazi crimes” and called on the French public to respect “the duty of commemorating”, in order to “pass on humanitarian values to the next generation”.
“It is essential for the sake of humanity itself, so as not to develop anew a barbaric ideology,” he continued, invoking the principles of Nazism.
The same survey revealed that those who had prior knowledge of the deportations had primarily heard of it for the first time through films or documentaries, with only 49% having been taught it at school. By contrast, 85% of French and 88% of youths of 18-24 years-old “consider that Holocaust education is important”.
According to UEJF president Jonathan Hayoun: “This survey shows that the French hold Holocaust education dear to their hearts. It also demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the raid of the Velodrome d’Hiver and the complicity of the French authorities, despite its value to our national consciousness and that its transmission would represent an important educational tool in the fight against all forms of hatred.”
Two exhibitions have also been dedication to child victims of the Holocaust in Paris; at the Holocaust Memorial and City Hall. A third, entitled Raid of the Velodrome d’Hiver: the police archives opens Monday at the city hall of the third arrondissement (city district) of Paris.
On July 16 and 17, 1942, 13,152 Jews were rounded up by the French police in Paris and its suburbs, before being deported to Nazi death camps, most notably Auschwitz. Of those numbers, 8,160, of whom 4,115 were children, were held at the Velodrome d’Hiver, a cycling track, for four days, whilst the remaining number, consisting of childless couples and the unmarried, were piled up in the makeshift camp.
Of the thousands of victims of the raid, the largest mass deportation of French Jews during the Second World War, only a handful survived, none of whom were children.

EJP