French Holocaust records exhibited for 1st time

[July 17, 2012]  PARIS (AP) -- The chilling police archives of the biggest World War II deportation of French Jews are being opened up to public view for the first time, a rare portrayal of one of the darkest days of French collaboration with the Nazis.

The exhibit, opening Thursday, coincides with the 70th anniversary of the roundup by Paris police of some 13,000 Jews who were then sent to Auschwitz death camp.

Photos, signatures and records of personal possessions from many of the victims given on July 16 and 17, 1942, are on display at a Paris district town hall.

President Francois Hollande will give a speech commemorating the roundup on Sunday from the old winter velodrome, the first such ceremony in 17 years.

[Associated Press]

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