Massive roundup of Jews in and around Paris

On 16 and 17 July 1942 at least 7000 French policemen rounded up entire Jewish families–men, women and children–in the Paris region. Under the direction of Rene Bousquet, Secretary General of the Vichy police, more than 13,000 Jews, including 3625 children, were arrested and interned at the Vélodrome d’Hiver (Vel d’Hiv) awaiting their fate. Later transferred to the camps of Drancy, Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande, they were forced onto deportation trains headed for Nazi extermination centers in the East. Few came back.