France 

(Pour lire ce texte en français, cliquer ici.)

Day of Remembrance: 27 January, 16 July 

Historical Background:
On the morning of 27 January, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz III, followed by Birkenau and Auschwitz I later that afternoon. Altogether, they liberated some 7650 prisoners. The Nazis murdered over one million Jews in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camps.

On 16-17 July 1942, French police carried out a major aktion (deportation) in France: 12,000 Jews were rounded up in Paris and locked up in the Velodrome d’Hiver sports stadium for days without food, water, or toilets. Thousands of Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps in the east.

France and the Holocaust:
Lexicon entry from Yad Vashem's online Holocaust Resource Center: France  

Educational Activities:
Activities include commemoration of the Holocaust and of the various instances of genocide in the 20th century, reflection on ways to promote human rights, tolerance, and inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. Thousands of French students participate in a one-day tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau site.
Teaching the Holocaust is required in primary, middle, and high school.
In primary school (Grades 4-5) the focus of the curriculum is, “The Extermination of the Jews by the Nazis: A Crime Against Humanity.”
In middle school, the curriculum focuses on "Policy of Exterminating the Jews and the Roma."
In high school, the curriculum for Grade 11 is the study of Nazi concentration and extermination camps.

Websites and Teaching Aids:
Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah (private non-profit organization, principally provides grants for Holocaust research and education): www.fondationshoah.org
Memorial - Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (research and documentation center): www.memorial-cdjc.org
Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation (Museum, contains exhibitions, documentation center, library, and film extracts): www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/fr/culture/musees/centre_histoire_resistance_1

For Yad Vashem website in French, click here.

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