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PARIS (AP) — They are among France's darkest days: Police dragged over 13,000 Jews from their homes, confined them in a Paris cycling stadium with little food or water, and then deported them to their deaths in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. But even in France, one of the most brazen collaborations between authorities and the Nazis during World War II is unknown to many in the younger generation.
Police are hoping to change that, opening up their archives on France's biggest single deportation of French Jews for the first time to the public on Thursday. The often chilling records are being exhibited in the Paris Jewish district's city hall to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the two-day "Vel d'Hiv" roundup, named for the Velodrome d'Hiver, or Winter Velodrome. Many thousands were rounded up on July 16 and 17, 1942, then holed up in miserable conditions in the stadium, just a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower, before being bused to the French camp at Drancy and then taken by train to Auschwitz.
Tallies list the daily count of men, women and children detained, alongside stark black and white photographs of deportees. A registry of those forced to wear the yellow star and a Jewish census show how police knew who to take. Meticulous handwritten lists detail personal possessions handed over to police. Others list the value of property, such as jewelry, confiscated — often forcibly — during the deportation.
France struggled for years to come to terms with the extent of its wartime collaboration with the Nazis, but over the decades officials have been showing greater willingness to acknowledge the shameful period in its history.
"This is our history, it's vital for the country to know," said curator Olivier Accarie. "Today, we are ready to confront this." The administrative indifference of the documents is striking. On July 17, Mrs. I. Rosenbaum signed that she had given up over 1,450 francs worth of possessions before being deported. But there is a further hand annotation: She tried to conceal 50 British pounds that were confiscated.
One page records the pre-dawn start of the roundup, but in one of the archives' only rays of hope it reveals that not everything went according to police plan: "The operation against the Jews began this morning at 4 a.m. (But) it has been slowed down. ... Many men left their homes yesterday." Though experts say the original plan was to deport 27,000 Jews from Paris, some 14,000 managed to avoid roundup or escape.
Originally posted by buster2010
All of this happened while France was under German control. So really it was the Germans that did not the French. The French did it to save their own lives and I don't blame them one bit for doing it.
Originally posted by buster2010
All of this happened while France was under German control. So really it was the Germans that did not the French. The French did it to save their own lives and I don't blame them one bit for doing it.
Originally posted by 3n19m470
The census gave them the info needed so they would know who to take away. Kinda scary when you think about it. I bet they never thought it would be used against them when they filled out their own census forms...
Hey, I realize the census can do good, but I guess its another one of those double-edged swords I keep hearing about that seem to be pervasive throughout our society. Depending on who's wielding it, I suppose.
Originally posted by Echtelion
Americans, don't let this happen again!
Originally posted by Ookie
Originally posted by Echtelion
Americans, don't let this happen again!
But most of the people here or on any "conservative" site do want just that. Not the jews in particular, but we do want the ones in power, the elite and wealthy, the ones who decide our fate and force us into wars to be rounded up and then exterminated.
We want to do what the French did with their elite once upon a time. The guillotines are thirsty for tyrants blood. We want our freedom back.
But what if we get what we want and then find it IS pretty much one certain class of people? What then? Do we stop, let them go and say sorry? What if they fight back and win? What will be called in history? How will we be demonized in the press and what will they teach our children in school?
Do you even realize you have been brainwashed since birth to protect your masters? What do they call you when you wake up? Think people.edit on 17-7-2012 by Ookie because: adjusted format