Memorial of Jewish People Round Up at “Vel d’Hiv”

This is a tragic anniversary and certainly one of the least glorious in the history of France. On 16 and 17 July 1942, 13,000 Jewish people, including 4,000 children, were arrested by the French police and brought to the "Velodrome d'Hiver" which was a bycycle race-track.

Nazi Germany had requested from all occupied territories to send over Jewish people to what were supposed to be "labor camps". We know what the camps really were. They were part of what Hitler referred to as "the final solution".

In the late 1950's, the stadium was dismantled to make way for affordable housing. The little adjacent garden bears marble plaques with the names of all 4,000 children that were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is not for the average tourist, but for those who wish to honour the memory of innocent victims.