France Commemorates Vel d'Hiv Roundup Amid Memorial Vandalism

France commemorated the 84th anniversary of the 1942 Vel d'Hiv roundup on July 19, 2026, in Paris. The event honored the victims of the largest mass arrest of Jews in France during World War II, during which the Vichy government collaborated with Nazi Germany to deport 13,152 people, including thousands of children, to death camps.

Ahead of the ceremony, authorities reported that a plaque honoring a family recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations for saving a child during the roundup had been vandalized. Alice Rufo, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans, condemned the act and pledged that the memorial would be restored. She asserted that the Republic would not yield in the face of antisemitism.

The commemoration took place during a surge of antisemitic violence and threats in France following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza. The ceremony included speeches from Yonathan Arfi, President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, and Serge Klarsfeld, President of the Association of Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France, and was attended by Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.