Vel d'Hiv' et le Mémorial de la Shoah

The Mur des Justes, Wall of the Righteous,
listing names of those who in France who risked
their lives to save Jews

This week, as part of our study of World War II and the French collaborationist regime, Vichy, we examined the French role in the Shoah (Holocaust).  We visited the Mémorial de la Shoah in the Marais, just blocks from the Rue des Rosiers, the traditional heart of Parisian Jewish life.  The museum contains the "fichier juif," the card catalog maintained by the Vichy government that listed the names and addresses of Jewish residents of Paris, enabling the French police to round up over 13,000 Jews in July 1942 – almost one-third of them children – and imprison them in the Vel d'Hiv', a bicycle velodrome next to the Eiffel Tower.  From there, they were sent via the Drancy concentration camp to the gas chambers.  Of the 75,000 French Jews deported during the war, only 2500 survived.

This plaque, a version of which appears outside many French schools, commemorates the deportation of Jewish children, including children from this middle school.  The Collège François Couperin is located at 2 allée des Justes, just across the street from
                                                  the Mémorial de la Shoah.

The memorials to the Vel d'Hiv' are located immediately next to the Métro station Bir-Hakeim that most tourists use to visit the Eiffel Tower.