Title
La Cérémonie du Vel d'Hiv
Statement of Prime Minister M. Lionel
Jospin
Date
20 July 1997
Description
Vel'
d'Hiv is the abbreviation for 'Vélodrome d'Hiver' a stadium in Paris. On 16 and
17 July 1942, 12,552 Jews were stopped by 4,500 French police under Vichy. The
Jews were kept interned at Vel d'Hiv before being transferred to Pithiviers or
Beaune-la-Rolande, then deported to Auschwitz and other camps. The incident is
now referred to as 'La Grande Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv' ('The Great Raid of the Vel'
d'Hiv') and was commemorated in a ceremony of 10 July 1997 in Paris. Jospin
acknowledges the importance of providing researchers access to archives and his
intention of modifying the law concerning archives of 3 January 1979 so that
access to documents of historical interest is made possible.
Publishing Information
Lionel Jospin. Statement on the Occasion of the
Ceremony for the Vel' d'Hiv. Embassy of France in the USA, <http://www.info-france-usa.org/news/statmnts/1998/wchea/vel1.asp>
in French, accessed 16 July 2002.
Source
A transcript
of this statement can be found on the website for the Embassy of France in the
USA, <http://www.info-france-usa.org/news/statmnts/1998/wchea/vel1.asp>
in French, accessed 16 July 2002.