This Sunday was the day of remembrance for the French victims of racist and anti-Semitic crimes committed during the Second World War, attended by civil authorities and relevant cultural associations.
Eight wreaths were laid under the commemorative plaque in memory of the deportation victims of the Second World War, by various groups including the Consistory of Nice, the city hall, the prefecture, the region in the name of Christian Estrosi, and the department, represented by Éric Ciotti.
About fifty people gathered on the train station platform to pay tribute to the victims, in a heavy atmosphere for the capital of the French Riviera.
The solemn atmosphere is amplified by the atrocious massacre the city suffered on the evening of July 14th. Sunglasses and hats are in order. The silence is so eloquent that it immediately conveys the situation.
People’s minds are troubled and occupied by what happened on the Promenade des Anglais, but everyone keeps in mind and remembers what those 554 Jews endured on August 31, 1942—residents of the Alpes-Maritimes, the Basses Alpes, and Monaco, arrested on Vichy’s orders and handed over to the Gestapo at Auschwitz by train, making a stop at Drancy in the occupied zone.
This roundup was, unfortunately, just the first in a long series. From September 10, 1943, to July 30, 1944, 3,000 Jews, including 300 children, met the same fate. Less than 3% survived.
The emotion is palpable on the faces of all participants, and it was in this context that the ceremony took place.
Thibault Bourru
