There is only one known photo of the Vel d'Hiv roundup.
Eighty years later, the Shoah Memorial brings this dark page of French history back to life through 16 drawings by Cabu, dating from 1967. The cartoonist - assassinated during the attack on
Charlie Hebdo
on January 7, 2015 - had 29 years old when the newspaper
Le Nouveau Candide
asked him to illustrate this "police operation", during which 12,884 Jews were arrested between July 16 and 17, 1942 to be exterminated in Auschwitz.
By making these illustrations, he will have nightmares and he will remain marked for all his life, as for his 24 month military service during the Algerian war
Veronique Cabut
"
By making these illustrations, he will have nightmares and he will remain marked by them for all his life, as for his 24-month military service during the Algerian war
", says his wife Véronique Cabut, presenting the exhibition which runs from Friday to November 7 in Paris.
In 1967, French public opinion became aware for the first time of the involvement of the Vichy government and the role of the French police in this roundup thanks to the shocking book by two former communist resistance fighters, Claude Lévy and Paul Tillard.
"
Cabu felt this revelation, like the other French people (...) He replaces the photos, we see the victims, the police
," said historian Laurent Joly.
V. Cabut
"
Cabu felt this revelation, like the other French (...) It replaces the photos, we see the victims, the
police", notes the historian Laurent Joly, curator of the exhibition and author of a book released this year on the roundup.
The black and white drawings show how the Jews felt about their executioners: in one of them, a man wearing a yellow star walks alone in a street at the end of which five agents are blocking his way.
A single photo, censored
On another, a Jewish family escapes through the rooftops, while on the floor below, we see the arrest teams pounding on their door.
An image that corresponds to reality, underlines Laurent Joly: the majority of the victims did not wait wisely at home for someone to come and arrest them.
Most of the time - more than two times out of three - the police found the doors closed.
On a third, a bus full to bursting and guarded by police carries men, women, children to the Vel d'Hiv.
The only known photo of this roundup, banned from publication by the German censor, precisely shows the buses and police vehicles used to transport the Jews.
According to Laurent Joly, the Germans felt that French opinion did not adhere to this operation, “
there is not a word in the newspaper of the time
”.
“
Not many people had cameras then and they were scared
,” which explains the lack of snapshots, he says.
The only surviving photo of the operation shows buses and police vehicles parked in front of the Vel d'Hiv.
Cabu was unaware of its existence in 1967, when he illustrated the day of July 16, 1942.
Mémorial de la Shoah/ Bibliothèque historique de Paris Archives Paris-Soir
The exhibition
Cabu, drawings from the Vel d'Hiv roundup
is being held until November 7 at
the Shoah Memorial in Paris.
Free admission.
The exhibition catalog was edited by Taillandier, with a text by Laurent Joly and a preface by Véronique Cabut.
18 euros.