The raids were among the most shameful acts committed during World War II in France and among the darkest moments in its history.
During those two days, police detained another 13,152 people, totaling 4,115 children, at the Paris Winter Velodrome, known as Vel d’Hiv, before sending them to Nazi camps. It is the largest raid of its kind in Western Europe.
BIDEN PUTS THE HOLOCAUST DURING A VISIT TO ISRAEL
The young people were separated from their families. Of those young men expelled from the Vel d’Hiv 80 years ago, six have survived.
In public testimonies over the past week, survivor Rachel Jedinak described knocking on the door in the middle of the night, marching through the streets of Paris and parking at the velodrome, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
He remembers his desperate mom yelling at the police. Some neighbors spoke of Jews, others cried when they saw them parked like cattle.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
It took French leaders 50 years after World War II to officially recognize the state’s involvement in the Holocaust when then-President Jacques Chirac apologized for the French government’s role in the Vel d’Hiv raids.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.