Throughout the month of July, Paris becomes a place of remembrance and hosts 42 never-before-seen photographic portraits of Holocaust survivors.
80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv
As part of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv roundup, the Crif was keen to set up an unprecedented project of exceptional scope, commensurate with the importance of this tragic event in history. of the Holocaust in France. The Crif has chosen to honor the work of the German-Italian artist Luigi Toscano, by exhibiting 42 photographic portraits of French survivors of the Shoah, 42 individual destinies linked by a common history. With the help of the exhibition’s Scientific Committee, they contacted and met 42 Holocaust survivors, all over France, based on the Anglo-Saxon definition of the term, namely “any Jewish person who suffered Nazi persecution during the Holocaust”.
A roundup, symbol of the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust
In the heat of the summer of 1942, on July 16, Paris awoke to cries. “Open! Police ! » At dawn, the French police brutally pull 13,152 Jews out of their sleep, including 4,115 children. This is the Vel d’Hiv roundup. This roundup, which became the symbol of the persecution of the Jews of France during the Holocaust, comes at the heart of a pivotal year, the year 1942. This year is that of the first convoys to the concentration and extermination camps, and that major raids in Paris and in the regions. It is also the first time that Jewish children are arrested. 80 years later, in the same streets of Paris, under the same summer sky, the work of Luigi Toscano reminds us of the importance of memory and transmission. The faces that you discover on the gates of the Jardin du Luxembourg are those of Jewish children or young teenagers, who escaped death, each in their own particular circumstances. Not all lived through the tragic days of July 1942, but all were confronted with the Nazi peril.
A QR code to discover the story of the Holocaust survivors
The photographs on display are therefore those of former deportees from the concentration and extermination camps, but also of former hidden children, and children of deportees. Through these unpublished photographic testimonies, this exhibition also wants to make visible those who are no longer there and whose names still pierce the hearts of those who pronounce them. Under each photo, you can scan the corresponding QR code to discover the story of our meeting with each person photographed and their full testimony. Lest We Forget – N’oublies pas is a Parisian exhibition, presented in the heart of the capital, so that Paris, the space of the roundup 80 years ago, is today the space of memory. These 42 photographs catch the eye of passers-by, unless it is the other way around…
Lest we forget exhibition
Luxembourg Garden
19 rue de Vaugirard
75006 Paris
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