The Vel d’Hiv roundup, 80 years to the day after this tragic event, a look back at the Vel d’Hiv roundup, with historian Laurent Joly, author of a historical investigation into these two days of July 16 and 17 1942 “The so-called Vel d’Hiv Roundup” is one of the most tragic events to have occurred in France under the Occupation.
In less than two days, on July 16 and 17, 1942, 12,884 women, men and children, divided between Drancy (nearly 4,900) and Vel d’Hiv (8,000), were arrested by the Parisian police at the result of a criminal arrangement between the German authorities and the Vichy government. ” Only a few hundred of these victims will survive the hell of the Nazi camps writes the author in his book.