Square des Martyrs Juifs du Velodrome d'Hiver

You are approaching a site of profound historical weight. This square commemorates the victims of the Vel d'Hiv roundup, the largest mass arrest of Jewish people in France during the Second World War. On July 16 and 17, 1942, more than 13,000 men, women, and children were seized from their homes by French police acting under the authority of the Vichy government. Many of them were held right here in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, an indoor cycling stadium that once stood on this ground. They were kept for five days in sweltering, crowded conditions without adequate food, water, or sanitation before being deported to transit camps and eventually to the extermination camp at Auschwitz.