80th anniversary of the mass roundup in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942 :: International Auschwitz Committee :: Remember the past, be responsible for the future ::

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16.07.2022

80th anniversary of the mass roundup in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942

The people were crammed together in busses like this and taken to the Vélodrome d’hiver. Illustration: Jean Cabut, known as Cabu. "Whilst he was completing these illustrations, he had nightmares and was scarred for the rest of his life," wrote his wife, Véronique. Cabu was murdered in the Islamist attack in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015.

On this day, Auschwitz survivors around the world are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the massive, brutal roundups in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942, in which Germans and French police arrested more than 13,000 Jews and incarcerated them for days in deplorable conditions in the velodrome near the Eiffel tower.

The men, women and children were then transported from there to transit camps and, starting on 19 July 1942, were deported to Auschwitz where the majority were immediately murdered on arrival. During the German occupation, a total of 70,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz from France. Only 2,600 of them survived.

Speaking on this Remembrance Day in Paris, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the international Auschwitz Committee stressed:

"The memories of the mass roundups on 16 and 17 July 1942 are still very much alive among Jewish people in France, and they take on a harrowing reality as Jewish people in many countries face up to the current waves of anti-Semitism and repeated threats."

For further Information

Christoph Heubner 
Executive Vice President
International Auschwitz Committee
Phone ++ 49 (0)30 26 39 26 81