I started this novel the other evening while relaxing in a hot bath. My plan was to relax a bit then hit the hay…only once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. So I sat in the bath until I was a prune, then went back out to the living room and kept reading. By the time I was blurry eyed and couldn’t focus any longer, I’d read over half the book. I finished it first thing the next morning.
“Sarah’s Key” is a novel, but it revolves around an actual event.
July 16th, 1942, while France was occupied by the Germans…There was a round up of known Jews in Paris. Those jews were coralled into the Velodrome d’Hiver…a stadium used for bicycle races. Thousands of Jewish Families were ushered in where there were no bathroom facilities. The Quakers and Red Cross tried to hand out some food and water but were completely overwhelmed by the numbers. All this in the middle of Summer.
This round up (Operation Spring Breeze) was ordered by the Germans, but the French Police (under the Vichy Government) did the work. 12,000+ Jews were collected in greater Paris…4051 Children, 5802 Women, and 3301 Men. Most Jewish men were in hiding because up till then, only men had ever been taken.
Those brought to Vel d’Hiv were taken in cattle cars to various internment camps in France. From there, the men over 15 or 16 were immediately taken to Auschwitz because the Germans needed laborers. Later all women over 15 or 16 were taken to Auschwitz…leaving children at these internment camps. No food, no water, no hygiene services, and many French Police brutalizing the children. Eventually the children were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz, though, not to work…they went directly, upon arrival, to the gas chamber.
It wasn’t until Jacques Chirac was in office that any member of the French Government ever acknowledged the atrocities at Vel d’Hiv and the internment camps. Since the acknowledgment, there have been several memorials erected in key areas of France.
This was an incredible book…hard to read yet joyous at the same time. I think the author did a fantastic job of capturing the probable thoughts and feelings of those there at the time. And I have to give her credit for tackling such hard subject matter. It really was a wonderful book and I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Mai, nous ne jamais oublier. May we never forget.
Filed under: Books!!!
