81: The Roundup

“The Round Up”(French: La Rafle) is a 2010 French Movie staring Mélanie Laurent, Jean Reno, Sylvie Testud and Gad Elmaleh.

It is based on the True Story of a Young Jewish Boy (Joseph Weismann - born in Paris in 1931) and depicts the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv) – the Mass Arrest of 13,152 Jews from Paris, France (4,115 Children; 5,919 Women and 3,118 Men) on July 16, 1942 by 9,000 French Collaborators (including the French Police) and a handful of Germans during World War 2.

Only 6 Children arrested during the Vel d’Hiv Roundup survived the War.

(Joseph Weismann)

Joseph Weismann (played by Hugo Leverdez) was one of the 6 (escaping from a Transit Camp), but his Parents and 2 Sisters (Charlotte -aged 13 – and Rachel – aged 7) were murdered in the Gas Chambers of Auschwitz. Joseph is 92 years old and still lives in France.

Also in “The Round Up” is Annette Monod (played by Mélanie Laurent) was a 33 year old Protestant French Red Cross Social Worker who worked in the Vichy French Transit Camps of the Winter Velodrome, Drancy, Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande. Known as “The Angel of Drancy” she organized food, healthcare and even escape for many of the Jewish Prisoners. She also helped 8,000 Jewish Internees (including 4,000 Children) at the Vel D’Hiv (Winter Velodrome) after the Roundup.  After the War she continued to work for the French Red Cross and helped many Displaced Persons and Holocaust Survivors. She died in 2001 at the age of 91.

(Annette Monod)

For Decades the French hid their Holocaust Crimes and tried to place all the blame on the Germans when in fact the Vichy French (under Henri Petain and Pierre Laval) carried out these Crimes with more enthusiasm than most the of German Nazis – including demanding the Children be deported to the Death Camps as well – as it was the “most humane thing to do.”

You can see ““The Round Up”(French: La Rafle) on Amazon Prime or for free on Tubi Streaming.