France commemorates 1942 roundup of Jews, after plaque honoring rescuers defaced

France recently commemorated the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup, a mass arrest of 13,152 Jews, including 4,500 children, by French police who then sent them to Nazi death camps. This annual commemoration, held amid rising antisemitism in France, seeks to preserve the memory of the victims. Ahead of the ceremony, a plaque honoring a couple and their daughter recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for saving a Jewish child during the roundup was vandalized. Deputy Defense Minister Alice Rufo stated, "To attack the Righteous is to desecrate the entire universe. The plaque will be restored." France officially acknowledged its state’s involvement in the Holocaust 50 years after World War II.