Rounding-up Parisian Jews
The Round-up of Parisian Jews at the Velodrome d'hiver, July 16-17, 1942.
The round-up of the Vélodrome d'Hiver, sometimes called Vel' d'Hiv for short, was the largest massive arrest of Jews in France during World War II, mostly foreign or stateless Jews, who thought they had found a safe refuge in France (and they most likely would have if France hadn't been invaded by the German army). In July 1942, the Nazi regime ordered a large scale operation to round up Jews in several European countries. In France, the Vichy government, known for its willingness to go along German orders as well as its anti-semitic stance, mobilized the French police to participate in the operation. In Paris, 9000 policemen and Gendarmes were called up. On July 17, at the end of the day, the number of arrests for the city of Paris and the surburbs would total 12,884, according to the police records. (4,051 children, 5,802 women and 3,031 men). The people under arrest were held at the velodrome, later they were moved to the detention camp of Drancy in the suburbs, before being transported by train to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.