La rafle du Vel d’Hiv

Rajsfus, Maurice, 2002

This text gives a concise narrative of the events surrounding 16th-17th July, 1942, when thousands of Jews in Paris were rounded up by the French police and imprisoned with their families in a winter cycling stadium, le Vélodrome d’hiver, before being separated and moved to concentration camps (Drancy, Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers) and then to Poland.

First-hand accounts of the moment of arrest and experiences of imprisonment in the stadium are incorporated. Appendices include a circular sent out by the French police outlining procedural details for the round-up, and a transcript of the speech made by Jacques Chirac in 1995, publicly acknowledging the responsibility of the French police for imprisoning and deporting thousands of Jews.

In French throughout, this book provides a useful brief introduction to a complex period in French history.

FR HIST 17 Open access