Thursday, July 21, 2022

When the Holocaust came to Paris - updated

It surprises me a little to realise that there are people still alive with cogent memories of World War 2, but this article from France 24 has interviews with 6 people who were kids when this terrible incident occurred:

Over two days in the summer of 1942, French police carried out Western Europe’s largest wartime roundup of Jews, acting on orders from occupying German forces and their French allies in the Vichy Regime.

On July 16 and 17 of that year, a total of 12,884 Jews – men, women and children – were snatched from their homes in Paris and in neighbouring suburbs. Some were taken directly to an internment camp in Drancy, northeast of the capital. The rest were crammed into the VĂ©lodrome d’Hiver, a stadium located on the banks of the Seine in the 15th arrondissement (district) of Paris, which would give its name to this sinister chapter in French history.
This reminded me about a book I mentioned back in 2007:  a biography of a French sleazy character who profited greatly out of adopting Nazi anti-Semitism.   I don't think I ever fully finished the book, actually, but I think I got through most of it.  I should find it on the shelf and check it out again.

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