University of Minnesota
Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies


Drancy and other Monuments in France

Drancy and other Monuments in France by artist Shlomo Selinger

Drancy is now a suburb of Paris, midway between the center of the city and Charles de Gaulle airport. During the Nazi occupation, it served as a transit camp for French Jews arrested by the French Police and German occupation forces. This was the principal departure point for Auschwitz. 77,000 French Jews were deported, including 11,204 children.

Drancy is now is a suburb of mixed refugee and immigrant populations, surrounded by apartment housing and stores. The Vel d'hiver, a velodrome for bicycling races in Paris was the other principal point for roundups of French Jews. That structure has ben destroyed. For more information, see works by Serge and Beate Klarsfeld on the deportation of French Jewry.

Selinger's monument, "The Gates of hell." 7 steps up symbolizing the days of the week, two gates, and scultpure in the center with 10 figures in a whirlwind. "10" in Judaism is the number required for a "minyan," or number necessary for prayer.

Memorial flowers

View of Central Sculpture and figure

Central sculpture and figure, with gate in background

The central sculpture connects with tract to a deportation car marked with a Star of david on the door

Shlomo Selinger's Monument to the Liberation from the Nazi occupation at La Courneuve

For other monuments see: