Seventy Years Since the “Vel d’Hiv” Raid

Today, July 16, 2012 marks the 70th anniversary of France's infamous Vel d'Hiv raid in paris. The first raid that included Jewish women and children, over 13,000 Jewish people of Paris were rounded up by French police. The victims were transported to the Vélodrome d’Hiver stadium in terrible summer heat and had little food or water. Most were deported to internment camps elsewhere in France and finally to Auschwitz.

Learn a bit about Marcel Marceau’s heroic role with the French Resistance in this period with the children’s book Marcel Marceau by Gloria Spielman, and for adults, Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, France Under the Germans by Philippe Burrin, Not the Germans Alone: A Son's Search for the Truth of Vichy by Isaac Levendel, and The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews by Susan Zuccotti.

From Marcel Marceau: One day Marcel's cousin Georges, a leader of the Resistance, asked Marcel to lead a group of Jewish children to the Swiss border. It was a dangerous trip. Marcel was scared, but he hid his fear as he guided the children across the border into Switzerland and safety. Marcel made the trip several times, often dressing the children as boy scouts pretending to be on their way to camp.