Vel' d'Hiv Roundup

1942 mass arrest and deportation of Jews in Paris, Vichy France

The Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup ( vellDEEV; from , an abbreviation of la rafle du Vélodrome d'Hiver) was a mass arrest of Jewish families by French police and gendarmes at the behest of the German authorities, that took place in Paris on 16–17 July 1942. The roundup was one of several aimed at eradicating the Jewish population in France, both in the occupied zone and in the free zone that took place in 1942, as part of Opération Vent printanier (Operation Spring Wind). Planned by René Bousquet, Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, Theodor Dannecker and Helmut Knochen; It was the largest French deportation of Jews during the Holocaust. According to records of the Préfecture de Police, 13,152 Jews were arrested, They were confined to an indoor sports arena, known as the ‘Vel d’Hiv’, or Vélodrome d’Hiver (“Winter Velodrome”), in extremely crowded conditions, without any arrangements made for food, water, or sanitary facilities. In the week following the arrests, the Jews were taken to the Drancy, Pithiviers, and Beaune la Rolande internment camps,

The Vélodrome d'Hiver was a large indoor sports arena at the corner of the and fr in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Eiffel Tower. It was built by Henri Desgrange, editor of L'Auto, who later organised the Tour de France, as a velodrome (cycle track) when his original track in the nearby Salle des Machines was listed for demolition in 1909 to improve the view of the Eiffel Tower. As well as track cycling, the new building was used for ice hockey, wrestling, boxing, roller skating, circuses, spectacles and demonstrations. In the 1924 Summer Olympics, several events were held there, including foil fencing, boxing, cycling (track), weightlifting, and wrestling. The Vel d'Hiv was also the site of political rallies and demonstrations, including a large event attended by Xavier Vallat, Philippe Henriot, Leon Daudet and other notable antisemites when Charles Maurras was released from prison. In 1939 Jewish refugees were interned there before being sent to camps in the Paris region and in 1940 it was used as a internment center for foreign women, an event that served as a precedent for its selection as internment location.

The "Vel' d'Hiv' Roundup" was not the first roundup of this sort in France during World War II. In what is known as the green ticket roundup , 3,747 Jewish men were arrested on 14 May 1941, after 6,694 foreign Jews living in France received a summons in the mail (delivered on a green ticket) to a status review The summons was a trap: those who honoured their summons were arrested and taken by bus the same day to the Gare d'Austerlitz, then shipped in four special trains to two camps at Pithiviers and Beaune La Rolande in the Loiret department. Women, children, and more men followed in July 1942.