The nation commemorated yesterday the thousands of Frenchmen, Jews and non-Jews, who were deported during World War II. Deportation Day was marked by a number of private and official ceremonies. In addition, the government ordered that school teachers hold special classes to inform their students, and the day’s sporting meets were to be marked by one minute of silence in the stadiums.
French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing attended a special mass held this morning in Notre Dame Cathedral, honoring the memory of French deportees, Alain de Rothschild, president of the French Consistory, attended a memorial ceremony organized by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) at the Drancy monument.
A ceremony at the unknown Jewish martyr monument was attended by Israeli Ambassador to France, Asher Ben Natan; the French Minister of Health Mrs, Simone Veil; the president of the Society of Jewish Deportees of France, Henry Bulawko; and the president of the Association of Jewish Journalists and Writers, Leon Leneman. The E1 Mole Rahamim and the Kaddish were recited by Rabbi Attia, and the French Republican Guard rang the death toll.
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