More than other crimes perpetrated by the Nazi regime during the Second World War, the Vél d’Hiv roundup marked the history of France and its values with a red iron.
This massive arrest, committed by the French police under the occupation on July 16 and 17, 1942, condemned to death almost all of the 13,000 Jewish or stateless people caught in the nets of those who collaborated.
These “dark hours that defile our history”, to use the terms of the rabbi of Thionville, were the occasion for an intimate but necessary commemoration this Sunday.
At the foot of the Jewish monument, near the Saint-François cemetery, the ceremony brought together civil and military personalities as well as around thirty people from the Jewish community.
A short hour to remember the innocent victims, three quarters of whom were children.
This time of contemplation was followed by a tribute to the Righteous among the Nations whose little square in the shade of the chestnut trees of Saint-François has borne its name for seven years.
#Thionville #Roundup #Vél #dHiv #tribute #victims #Righteous
