About Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup Monument
The Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup Monument is a memorial in Paris for the rounding up of over 13,000 Jews in 1942 who were then deported to Auschwitz.
History of Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup Monument
The Vel’ d’Hiv (an abbreviation of Rafle du Vélodrome d’Hiver) was a mass arrest of foreign Jewish families by French police and gendarmes on the orders of the German authorities in July 1942. Over 13,000 Jews were arrested, including more than 4,000 children.
They were held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver (Winter Stadium) which was located near the Eiffel Tower. Conditions were extremely crowded, with no sanitation, food, or water available for the five days that they were held there.
The complex was demolished in 1959, and a memorial was installed in 1994 which commemorates the Jews who were transported from Paris to the concentration camps during the Second World War.
Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup Monument Today
Today, a square and memorial garden in the vicinity of the original stadium pays tribute to the victims of the atrocity. There are further commemorative plaques for the Vél’ d’Hiv roundup and other deportations can be found throughout Paris, particularly on buildings throughout the Marais district, the historic center of the Jewish community.
Getting to Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup Monument
The monument is located close to the Eiffel Tower and Champ de Mars, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
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