On the occasion of the 84th commemoration of the Vel d'Hiv roundup, the Shoah Memorial in Paris offers 3 appointments.
Sunday, July 12, 2026, at 11 a.m.
Through testimonies and written sources, this visit retraces the roundup of the Vélodrome d'Hiver, at the origin of the arrest of more than 13,000 Jews, men, women and children. It is one of the most striking pages in the history of the Shoah in France.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Magnetic loops are available to the hearing-impaired public at reception.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026, 3 p.m.
On 16 and 17 July 1942, at the initiative of the Germans, the French police arrested 12,884 Jews in Paris. This roundup on an unprecedented scale concerns, for the first time, more than 4,000 children under 16 years of age. They were taken to the "Vel d'Hiv", a famous sports centre located not far from the Eiffel Tower, and interned there for several days in inhumane conditions. Deported from Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau, few survive. What remains today of "these days of tears and shame", in the words of Jacques Chirac in 1995?
This journey will address the history and memory of this roundup, now a symbol of the Shoah in France.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Meeting place: indicated a few days before the race.
Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 7 p.m.
Text and staging by
Ne dormez pas chez vous ce nuit is a theatrical series about the roundup of the Vel d'Hiv (16 and 17 July 1942), currently being written by Luc Tartar. Five episodes to discuss the preparations for the roundup, the arrests of Jewish families by the French police, the detentions at the Vel d'Hiv, at the Drancy camp and then in the Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande camps, and finally the deportation to Auschwitz.
Reading of excerpts from the first two episodes by author
