Vél d'Hiv.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vel'_d'Hiv_Roundup

Map  of Central Paris, the red dot marks the place where the
Vélodrome D'hiver was situated.

Vél d'Hiv Roundup.

• Vél d'Hiv is an abbreviation of Vélodrome d'Hiver.
• It was a Nazi decreed raid and mass arrest in Paris.
• 16th and 17th July 1942.
• Code named Opération Vent printanier ("Operation Spring Breeze")
• The aim of 'Vél d'Hiv was to reduce the Jewish population in 'Occupied France'.
• 13,152 victims were arrested and kept in Vél d'Hiv and / or Drancy concentration camp.
• then shipped by railway transports to Auschwitz for extermination.
• Vichy officials had been enthusiastic about deportation of Jews from France.

The Vélodrome D'Hiver.

• An indoor cycle track at the corner of the boulevard de Grenelle.
• Not far from the Eiffel Tower.
•  It was built by Henri Desgrange who later organised the Tour De France.
• The Germans demanded the keys of the Vel' d'Hiv from its owner, Jacques Goddet.
• The circumstances in which Goddet surrendered the keys remain a mystery.
• It had a glass roof which was painted dark blue = extreme heat - windows secured.
• No toilet facilities.
• Only one water tap.
• Those who tried to escape were shot.
• Some people committed suicide.
• After five days, Jews were moved to concentration camps and then to extermination.

Roundups.

• Roundups were conducted in northern and southern zones of France.
• The primary significance of the roundup was the killing of innocent people because of their religion.
• The Vel' d'Hiv has remained a symbol of national guilt and of national outrage.
• Public outrage was greatest in Paris.
• The Vél D'Hiv was a landmark in the centre of Paris.
• Public reaction obliged Laval to ask Germans on 2 September not to demand more Jews.
• Laval managed to limit deportations.
• The roundup accounted for more than a quarter of the 42,000 Jews sent from France to Auschwitz in 1942.
• of whom only 811 returned to France at the end of the war.

Now.

Memorial plaque in Paris about Jews who were held in
the Vélodrome d'hiver .

• A fire destroyed part of the Vélodrome d'Hiver in 1959 and the rest was demolished.
•  A block of flats and a building belonging to the Ministry of the Interior now stand on the site.
• A plaque marking the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup was placed on the track building and moved to 8 boulevard de Grenelle in 1959.
•  The sculpture includes children, a pregnant woman and a sick man.
  
• The words on the monument are: "The French Republic in homage to victims of racist and antisemitic persecutions and of crimes against humanity committed under the authority of the so-called 'Government of the State of France.''