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Speech by Paul Schaffer
on the site of the Vel d'Hiv ...
Paul Schaffer:
- "We commemorate on this day the 68th anniversary of the roundup of Vel'd'hiv.
Every year I remember the important speech, he held here 15 years ago by President Jacques Chirac. His comments prompted me to write ui spontaneously, to express my gratitude, as I waited in vain for 53 years, in the anxiety and disappointment, the development that came from state.
Indeed, arrested by gendarmes at Revel, Haute Garonne, in the occupied zone, 26 August 1942, I was deported on September 4 in convoy No. 28, to Auschwitz with my mother and my older sister, aged 19. The convoy carried
999 people. In 1945 twenty-seven just came back: I am one of them and the sole survivor of my family.
Now if I stand before you today is precisely that we remember all the drama never hitherto little known and commemorated: the massive roundup of foreign Jews, the month of August 1942, took place in the unoccupied zone and reached the Jews in the most remote municipalities of the territory. Determined and executed
by the Vichy government, the raid was intended to deliver the Jews to the Gestapo aliens under its responsibility. This was to supplement the 13,152 people arrested and gathered at the Velodrome winter and reach the number of 22,000 Jews, required by the occupant. Devoting
permanently dishonor of the Vichy regime.
It seems worth mentioning here that these foreigners came to France hoping to find relief and protection. Thus
10,587 men, women, elderly and children were arrested, mostly during raids of 26 August and deported via Drancy in abominable conditions, for almost all murdered in the gas chambers of extermination camps. 10,587 of those deported, only 270 have survived.
Thus, the horrors of the arrests, saying the Vel d'Hiv, plus those of August 1942. The two largest raids led to the extermination camps, in the space of two months, some 23,800 people, it's almost a third of the 76,000 Jews deported from France during the years of the occupation.
The hatred of Jews, amplified by Nazi propaganda, had found support among some French people who have made their accomplices, culminating in the Holocaust. Nevertheless
and at the same time, other French, by simple humanity with goodness and selflessness saved, often risking their lives, Jews from deportation and death. Identified
they received from the State of Israel as a Righteous Among the Nations.
Righteous Among these, recognized or remain anonymous - the other dimension of this day of remembrance - I would recall in particular the memory of Archbishop of Toulouse and Saliège Bishop Theas of Montauban. The arrests of August gave rise to the drafting of their pastoral letters: they were read in all churches of their dioceses. They denounced those acts which violate human dignity, and they called the Christians of France not to be complicit in such crimes. "
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Righteous Among the Nations: M . Toques, LANEURIE Mrs. Ms. MARMAJOU, Mr. Brott (Mont. BCFYV / DR).
- "We know the Righteous of France were of all faiths and belonging to religious, cultural and social systems. Many of them, although most remain in shade, because of not having time or told by their modest history.
Yet I am happy, as President of the French Committee for Yad Vashem, you can still hear, although late, new applications continue to arrive and decide that Yad Vashem Jerusalem to honor the title of Righteous.
But time does not diminish our appreciation, their actions are and will remain a lesson for all time.
They saved the honor of France!
In a world where acts of hatred, the confusion of values, the demonization of Israel occur, recall the principles that have guided Just yesterday the necessary, and requires us to defend truth, justice and peace. All
with regret that I mention it is also now an act which occurred during a recent graduation of the Righteous in a small town in the French province. While a couple of farmers who hid Jews during the war were honored, a group of individuals came disrupt the atmosphere and moving the ceremony, handing out leaflets aggressive, distilling their hatred and shouting anti-Semitic slogans.
I could never have imagined that such demonstrations may occur after the Holocaust. Having lived through Kristallnacht in Vienna, then aged 14, who still in my memory the remembrance of hate speech, I know how these events lead to uncontrollable catastrophe, if they are not criticized, punished and eradicated in time.
These behaviors are shameful and contrary to the spirit of our Republic.
Today, Mr. Minister, ladies and gentlemen elected, if we want to give meaning to our celebrations and not just talking about the past, we must all, the political, moral authorities and citizens, take an urgent duty: to combat all manifestations of hatred and violence. "
(S) Paul Schaffer, president of the French Committee for Yad Vashem.
.
Yet I am happy, as President of the French Committee for Yad Vashem, you can still hear, although late, new applications continue to arrive and decide that Yad Vashem Jerusalem to honor the title of Righteous.
But time does not diminish our appreciation, their actions are and will remain a lesson for all time.
They saved the honor of France!
In a world where acts of hatred, the confusion of values, the demonization of Israel occur, recall the principles that have guided Just yesterday the necessary, and requires us to defend truth, justice and peace. All
with regret that I mention it is also now an act which occurred during a recent graduation of the Righteous in a small town in the French province. While a couple of farmers who hid Jews during the war were honored, a group of individuals came disrupt the atmosphere and moving the ceremony, handing out leaflets aggressive, distilling their hatred and shouting anti-Semitic slogans.
I could never have imagined that such demonstrations may occur after the Holocaust. Having lived through Kristallnacht in Vienna, then aged 14, who still in my memory the remembrance of hate speech, I know how these events lead to uncontrollable catastrophe, if they are not criticized, punished and eradicated in time.
These behaviors are shameful and contrary to the spirit of our Republic.
Today, Mr. Minister, ladies and gentlemen elected, if we want to give meaning to our celebrations and not just talking about the past, we must all, the political, moral authorities and citizens, take an urgent duty: to combat all manifestations of hatred and violence. "
(S) Paul Schaffer, president of the French Committee for Yad Vashem.
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