Cultural programming as part of the 80th anniversary of the 'Billet vert' roundup

On the occasion of the commemoration of the roundup of the "Billet vert" of May 14, 1941,
the Shoah Memorial offers you a varied program

From Friday, May 14, 2021 to Friday, May 21, 2021

Screening on the website of the film 'I will return' by Jean Barat

Je Reviendrai by Jean Barat, 2015, France, 1h07, documentary, produced by J.W Production – Jacques Wenig & Injam Production – Marc Andréani.

Synopsis: In May 1941, aged 28, Zysman Wenig is arrested in Paris by the French police because he is Jewish and interned at the Pithiviers camp. On June 25, 1942, he was deported to the Auschwitz camp. 70 years later, he tells how he managed to survive four years of internment and deportation. This documentary focuses on the conditions of this survival and the gaze of a 100-year-old man who looks back at his destiny and that of his family, leading to live one of the greatest tragedies of humanity.

With the participation of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée and the support of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.

Historical advisor: Annette Wieviorka
Voice: Carlo Brandt
Music by Jean-Noël Yven

A few words from the director, Jean Barat:

projection of the film 'La terre ne ment pas' by Philippe Claire

Documentary, France, 2009, 74 min, Prospective image, with the support of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.

Synopsis: the documentary, whose title refers to a speech by Marshal Pétain, looks back at the fate of foreign Jews, arrested as part of the "green ticket raid", transferred to the camps of Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers, then sent to farms in Sologne.

Emile Frajerman, who managed to escape from the farm of La Matelotte, thus escaping the internment in Drancy then the deportation to Auschwitz which struck the other internees, reveals us what was his daily life and that of his companions of misfortune. His voice mingles with the comments of the historian Benoît Verny, the testimonies of inhabitants of the surrounding countryside as well as that of Christian Spie who, newly arrived in the region, undertook to gather the memory traces of an episode forgotten by many.

In addition to his documentary, Philippe Claire wrote the book Une autre rafle, les kommandos de Sologne, published by CPE in 2016.

Friday, May 14, 2021, from 7 PM

Online conference – 80 years ago, the greenback sweep ...

A few months ago, almost 80 years after the fact, collectors made a major discovery: 98 totally unknown photos of the roundup called the «billet vert», first mass arrest of foreign Jews in Paris on 14 and 15 May 1941.

These exceptional iconographic documents are made up of five photographic films, taken by the German propaganda services, attesting to scenes that we have only known until now through the testimonies of survivors or families of those arrested. They show the journey of these men from the Japy gymnasium to the farewell to families, from boarding buses for the Austerlitz station, until the arrival at the Pithiviers camp. In addition to these photos, the discovery of a mini documentary filmed. How did the teams work to find the author of these images and authenticate them? What insights do these new elements bring to the question of the final solution in France and how is the discovery of these new images important 80 years after these events?

This exceptional collection has now joined the collections of the Shoah Memorial.

By Lior Lalieu-Smadja, head of the photo library at the Mémorial de la Shoah Paris and Catherine Thion, PhD in history.

Follow the conference live on the CERCIL website

Sunday, May 16, 2021, at 4 PM

The meetings of Drancy: The internment camps of Loiret by Catherine Thion

Gendarme supervising the camp of Beaune-la-Rolande, May 17, 1941.
© Shoah Memorial.

Free meeting, on registration

Live on the Shoah Memorial website, Facebook, YouTube and Zoom

80 years ago, on May 14, 1941, about 3,700 foreign Jewish men arrested in Paris and its suburbs were transferred to two camps in Loiret. This is the first mass arrest in an occupied area. It was also the beginning of internment in the camps of Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande. These men stayed there, for the majority of them, for more than a year before being deported to Auschwitz in June and July 1942. From 19 July 1942, it was the families arrested during the roundup of the Vel'Hiv' who were locked up there for a few days, only a few weeks before being deported. Many other Jews will still be interned there, until the end of September 1942 in Pithiviers, until the summer of 1943 in Beaune-la-Rolande.

Thursday 20 May 2021, 7:30 PM

ONLINE MEETING ON THE Green Ticket Raid: discovery of 98 unpublished photos

The arrested Jews are escorted by the French gendarmes and the German authorities to the Austerlitz station to be interned in the camps of Loiret, Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande, 14 May 1941.
© Shoah Memorial.

Free event

Live on the website of the Shoah Memorial, Facebook and YouTube

All the new photos will be shown at the Shoah Memorial and a selection will be visible at the Japy gymnasium.

A few months ago, almost 80 years after the fact, collectors made a major discovery: 98 totally unknown photos of the roundup known as the «billet vert», first mass arrest of foreign Jews in Paris on 14 and 15 May 1941. These exceptional iconographic documents are made up of five photographic films, taken by the German propaganda services, attesting to scenes that we have only known until now through the testimonies of survivors or families: men at the Japy gymnasium at the farewell to families, from boarding buses for the Austerlitz station, until arrival at the Pithiviers camp. This exceptional collection has now joined the collections of the Shoah Memorial.

With Serge Klarsfeld, historian, president of the association of the Sons and Daughters of the Jewish deportees from France, Lior Lalieu-Smadja, head of the photo library of the Shoah Memorial, and Liliane Rysfeld, witness to her father’s departure on 14 May 1941.

Moderated by Ilsen About, research fellow at the CNRS, member of IRIS, CNRS-EHESS.

They talk about it:

The eye of the photographer