The Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (French: Rafle du Vélodrome d'Hiver, commonly called the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv: "Vel' d'Hiv Police Roundup / Raid"), was a Nazi decreed raid and mass arrest in Paris by the French police on 16 and 17 July 1942, code named Opération Vent printanier ("Operation Spring Breeze"). The name for the event is derived from the nickname of the Vélodrome d'Hiver ("Winter Velodrome"), a bicycle velodrome and stadium where many of the victims were temporarily confined. The roundup was one of several aimed at reducing the Jewish population in occupied France. According to records of the Préfecture de Police, 13,152 victims were arrested and held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver and the Drancy internment camp nearby, then shipped by railway transports to Auschwitz for extermination. French President Jacques Chirac apologized in 1995 for the complicit role that French policemen and civil servants served in the raid.
Read more about Vel' D'Hiv Roundup: The Vélodrome D'Hiver, Planning The Roundup, Police Complicity, The Roundup, The Vel' D'Hiv, After The Roundup, Drancy Camp and Deportation, Aftermath, Action Against The Police, Apology, Memorials and Monuments – Paris, Memorials and Monuments – Drancy, Significance, Bibliography, Film Documentaries and Books