Vélodrome d'hiver
Encyclopedia
The Vélodrome d'Hiver colloquially Vel' d'Hiv, was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium (velodrome
) on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower
in Paris. As well as track cycling
, it was used for ice hockey
, wrestling
, boxing
, roller-skating, circus
es, spectaculars, and demonstrations. It was the first permanent indoor track in France and the name persisted for other indoor tracks built subsequently.
In July 1942, French police, acting under orders from the German authorities in Occupied Paris, used the velodrome to hold thousands of Jews who were victims in a mass arrest
. The Jews were held at the velodrome before they were moved to a concentration camp in the Parisian suburbs at Drancy
, then to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. The incident became known as the "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv).
which ended in 1900 and for which the Eiffel Tower was the most striking monument. The building stayed unoccupied after the exhibition.
In 1902, the Salle des Machines was inspected by Henri Desgrange
, who the following year inaugurated the Tour de France
on behalf of the newspaper that he edited, L'Auto
. With him were Victor Goddet, the newspaper's treasurer, an engineer named Durand, and an architect, Gaston Lambert. It was Lambert who said he could turn the hall into a sports arena with a track 333 metres long and eight metres wide. He finished it in 20 days.
The first meeting there, on 20 December 1903, had an audience of 20,000. They paid seven francs for the best view and a single franc to see hardly anything at all. The seating was primitive and there was no heating. The first event was not a cycle race but a walking competition over 250 metres. The first cycling competition was a race ridden behind pacing motorcycles. Only one rider - Cissac - managed to complete the 16 km, the others having crashed on the unaccustomed steepness of the track banking.
There could be so many spectators jammed in the track centre for cycling events that they resembled passengers in the Paris métro
in the rush hour. The richer and more knowledgeable spectators bought seats in the trackside seats and the rest crowded into the upper balcony from which the track looked a distant bowl. A rivalry grew up between those in the top row and those below them, to the extent that those on high sometimes threw sausages, bread rolls and even bottles on to those below or, if they could throw that far, on to the track. The hall's managers had to install a net to catch the larger missiles.
had started in London in the 19th century but it had taken a change to a race not for individuals but for teams of two to make it truly popular. The new formula was created in America at Madison Square Garden
. It became known in English as the madison and in French
as l'américaine. The first such six-day race at the Vel' d'Hiv' started on 13 January 1913.
The riders included the Tour de France winners Louis Trousselier and Émile Georget
and other prominent riders such as Octave Lapize
. The race began at 6pm and by 9pm all 20,000 seats were sold. Among those who watched was the millionaire Henri de Rothschild
, who offered a prize of 600 francs, and the dancer Mistinguett
, who offered 100f. The winners were Goulet and Fogler, an American-Australian pairing.
The Franco-American writer René de Latour
said: "I have known the time when it was considered quite a feat to get into the Vel' d'Hiv' during a six-day race. There were mounted police all round the block, barriers were erected some way from the building, and if you did not have a ticket or a pass to show, you were not allowed anywhere near the place. You can guess that the disappointed fans often produced a near-riot."
A tradition started in 1926 of electing a Queen of the Six, whose job included starting the race. Among them were Édith Piaf
, Annie Cordy and the accordionist Yvette Horner, who also played from the roof of a car while preceding the Tour de France
.
Races at the Vel' d'Hiv' were sometimes doubted for their genuineness. While the spectacle drew large and even capacity crowds, the best riders were rumoured to control the race. The French journalist Pierre Chany
wrote:
, the velodrome hosted boxing
, fencing
, weightlifting
, and wrestling
events.
The American writer Ernest Hemingway
was a regular fan of six-day and other races at the Vel' d'Hiv' while he lived in Paris. He wrote:
began at the Vel' d'Hiv' after a meeting between an American, Jeff Dickson, and Henri Desgrange, the track's main owner and leading promoter. Dickson arrived in France from Missouri
in 1917, as a "sammie". Sammies, named after the owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, were cameramen sent from the USA to film American soldiers in World War I.
Dickson stayed on in France after the war and began promoting boxing in the Wagram area of Paris. He and Desgrange got on and the two agreed he should organise a first boxing tournament at the Vel' d'Hiv' in 1929. The main match pitted Milou ¨Pladner against Frank Genaro and brought in 920,110 francs.
of 60m by 30m, then constructed a cover for the rink to allow its use for other activities.
Under Dickson, the Vel' d'Hiv' became home to the Français Volants ice hockey
team. The rink also featured shows by the skater Sonja Henie
. He also staged wrestling
and variety shows.
His most spectacular venture was his greatest and most expensive flop. Dickson discovered from the newspaper Paris-Midi, that the Schneider circus
in Naples
was auctioning 100 lions. Dickson bought the animals that same day, along with their cages and trailers, for 80,000 francs. He constructed a stage set and acquired two sick camels abandoned by a circus at Maisons-Alfort; he hired fire-eaters and employed 20 actors to dress as African explorers - all to stage a spectacle called The Lion Hunt.
The lions, however, arrived from Naples feeling tired and limp. Dickson assured reporters they needed only a meal and began importing dead animals from local abattoirs. Things didn't improve. On the first night of the show, all 100 lions were released into the arena but showed no signs of excitement, still less ferocity. Dickson ordered his "explorers" to fire into the air to wake them up. The air became bitter with cordite fumes but the lions did little more than stroll about and urinate on the scenery.
Now convinced the animals were harmless, stagehands began beating them, at which children began to cry and parents shouted angry protests. The organizers withdrew the animals and moved to the next act of the show. Things went little better. The camels refused to walk in a line, as in a desert caravan. And their attendants, who were unemployed black people recruited from the streets, stumbled in the sand under their unaccustomed stage clothing. The show's run was abandoned.
Dickson now had two camels and 100 lions that he no longer needed. An assistant tied the camels behind a car, led them to the Seine
and abandoned them. There they were found by the police. Eventually Dickson rented the camels and lions to another circus for 10,000 francs a week, only for the circus to fail and Dickson to be summoned to collect his animals. By now he was also being pursued by the Société de Protection des Animaux for cruelty in abandoning the camels. The animals were finally sent to a zoo
near Hamburg
.
The venture ended with the loss of 700,000 francs by the Vel' d'Hiv.
Dickson returned to America in 1939 and died when his bomber
was shot down at St-André-de-l'Eure on 14 July, France's national day, in 1943. He is buried at in the American cemetery at Omaha Beach
west of Caen
, beneath the third cross in the front row.
The Vélodrome d'hiver was also the venue of the 1951
European basketball championship
.
, a stocky, round-faced man who led France's largest fascist party, the PPF
. It was at the Vel' d'Hiv, among other venues, that Doriot, with his Hitler-like salute, roused crowds to join his cause.
In 1940, the Germans
invaded France
and occupied its northern half, including Paris. On 7 June 1942 they completed plans for Operation Spring Breeze (Opération Vent printanier), to arrest 28,000 foreign and stateless Jews
using 9,000 French policemen. Arrests started early on July 16 and were complete by the next day. Among those who helped in the round-up were 3,400 young members of Doriot's PPF.
Needing a place to hold the detainees, the Germans demanded the keys of the Vel' d'Hiv from its owner, Jacques Goddet
, who had taken over from his father Victor and from Henri Desgrange. The circumstances in which Goddet surrendered the keys remain a mystery, and the episode occupies only a few lines in his autobiography.
The Vel' d'Hiv had a glass roof, which had been painted dark blue to help avoid attracting bomber navigators. The dark glass roof, combined with windows screwed shut for security, raised the temperature inside the structure. The 13,152 people held there had no lavatories; of the 10 available, five were sealed because their windows offered a way out, and the others were blocked. The arrested Jews were kept there for eight days with only water and food brought by Quakers, the Red Cross and the few doctors and nurses allowed to enter.
Those arrested were sent to an internment camp in half-completed tower blocks at Drancy
and then to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. Only 400 survived.
, Jacques Anquetil
, Fausto Coppi
and André Darrigade
. The race was run with teams of three. Rivière had to drop out after a crash with Anquetil in the first hours; on 12 November, Darrigade won the biggest prime, or intermediate prize, ever offered at the track: one million francs. The overall winners were Anquetil and his partners, Darrigade and Terruzzi.The building had grown old, dirty and dusty and leaked when it rained. Electricity cables hung in loops.
The final night at the Vel' d'Hiv was 12 May 1959, featuring the painter Salvador Dalí
. Among his stage props was a model of the Eiffel Tower, which he exploded to symbolise the end of the exhibition hall in which he stood.
, commissioned a monument to be erected on the site.
It stands now on a curved base, to represent the cycle track, on the edge of the quai de Grenelle. It is the work of the sculptor Walter Spitzer and the architect Mario Azagury. Spitzer and his family were survivors of deportation to Auschwitz. The statue represents all deportees but especially those of the Vel' d'Hiv. The sculpture includes children, a pregnant woman and a sick man. The words on the monument are: "The French Republic in homage to victims of racist and antisemitic persecutions and of crimes against humanity committed under the authority of the so-called 'Government of the State of France.'"
The statue was inaugurated on 17 July 1994. A ceremony is held there every year and it was during a ceremony that Jacques Chirac, successor to François Mitterrand, made his remarks about the guilt of the French police and gendarmerie in collaborating with the Germans. The statue was placed on land given by the city of Paris and paid for by the Ministère des Anciens Combattants. The statue is cared for by the defence ministry.
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
) on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
in Paris. As well as track cycling
Track cycling
Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....
, it was used for ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, roller-skating, circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
es, spectaculars, and demonstrations. It was the first permanent indoor track in France and the name persisted for other indoor tracks built subsequently.
In July 1942, French police, acting under orders from the German authorities in Occupied Paris, used the velodrome to hold thousands of Jews who were victims in a mass arrest
Mass arrest
A mass arrest occurs when the police apprehend large numbers of suspects at once. This sometimes occurs at illegal protests. Some mass arrests are also used in an effort combat gang activity. This is sometimes controversial, and lawsuits sometimes result...
. The Jews were held at the velodrome before they were moved to a concentration camp in the Parisian suburbs at Drancy
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
, then to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. The incident became known as the "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv).
Origins
The original track was housed in the Salles des Machines, the building used for the industrial display of the World's FairExposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
which ended in 1900 and for which the Eiffel Tower was the most striking monument. The building stayed unoccupied after the exhibition.
In 1902, the Salle des Machines was inspected by Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
, who the following year inaugurated the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
on behalf of the newspaper that he edited, L'Auto
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
. With him were Victor Goddet, the newspaper's treasurer, an engineer named Durand, and an architect, Gaston Lambert. It was Lambert who said he could turn the hall into a sports arena with a track 333 metres long and eight metres wide. He finished it in 20 days.
The first meeting there, on 20 December 1903, had an audience of 20,000. They paid seven francs for the best view and a single franc to see hardly anything at all. The seating was primitive and there was no heating. The first event was not a cycle race but a walking competition over 250 metres. The first cycling competition was a race ridden behind pacing motorcycles. Only one rider - Cissac - managed to complete the 16 km, the others having crashed on the unaccustomed steepness of the track banking.
Change of name and track
In 1909 the Salle des Machines was listed for demolition, to improve the view of the Eiffel Tower. Desgrange moved to another building nearby, at the corner of the boulevard de Grenelle and the rue Nélaton. The venue was named the Vélodrome d'Hiver. The new track, also designed by Lambert, was 253.16m round at the base but exactly 250m on the line ridden by the motor-paced riders considered the stars of the day. Lambert built two tiers of seats, which towered above bankings so steep for their day that they were considered cliff-like. In the track centre Lambert built a roller-skating rink of 2,700 square metres. He lit the whole lot with 1,253 hanging lamps.There could be so many spectators jammed in the track centre for cycling events that they resembled passengers in the Paris métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
in the rush hour. The richer and more knowledgeable spectators bought seats in the trackside seats and the rest crowded into the upper balcony from which the track looked a distant bowl. A rivalry grew up between those in the top row and those below them, to the extent that those on high sometimes threw sausages, bread rolls and even bottles on to those below or, if they could throw that far, on to the track. The hall's managers had to install a net to catch the larger missiles.
Six-days
Six-day cycle racingSix-day racing
A six or six-day is a track cycling race that lasts six days. Six-day races started in Britain, spread to many regions of the world, were brought to their modern style in the United States and are now mainly a European event. Initially, individuals competed alone, the winner being the individual...
had started in London in the 19th century but it had taken a change to a race not for individuals but for teams of two to make it truly popular. The new formula was created in America at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. It became known in English as the madison and in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as l'américaine. The first such six-day race at the Vel' d'Hiv' started on 13 January 1913.
The riders included the Tour de France winners Louis Trousselier and Émile Georget
Émile Georget
Émile Georget was a French road racing cyclist. Born in Bossay-sur-Claise, he was the younger brother of cyclist Léon Georget.He died at Châtellerault.- Tour de France :...
and other prominent riders such as Octave Lapize
Octave Lapize
Octave Lapize was a French professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist.Most famous for winning the 1910 Tour de France and a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 kilometres, he was a three-time winner of one-day classics, Paris–Roubaix and Paris–Brussels.In his first...
. The race began at 6pm and by 9pm all 20,000 seats were sold. Among those who watched was the millionaire Henri de Rothschild
Rothschild banking family of France
The Rothschild banking family of France was founded in 1812 in Paris by James Mayer Rothschild . James was sent there from his home in Frankfurt, Germany by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...
, who offered a prize of 600 francs, and the dancer Mistinguett
Mistinguett
Mistinguett was a French actress and singer, whose birth name was Jeanne Bourgeois. She was at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world...
, who offered 100f. The winners were Goulet and Fogler, an American-Australian pairing.
René de Latour
René de Latour was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, Sporting Cyclist, to which he contributed to 120 of the 131 issues.-Background:René de Latour was born in 42nd Street, New York...
said: "I have known the time when it was considered quite a feat to get into the Vel' d'Hiv' during a six-day race. There were mounted police all round the block, barriers were erected some way from the building, and if you did not have a ticket or a pass to show, you were not allowed anywhere near the place. You can guess that the disappointed fans often produced a near-riot."
A tradition started in 1926 of electing a Queen of the Six, whose job included starting the race. Among them were Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
, Annie Cordy and the accordionist Yvette Horner, who also played from the roof of a car while preceding the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
.
Races at the Vel' d'Hiv' were sometimes doubted for their genuineness. While the spectacle drew large and even capacity crowds, the best riders were rumoured to control the race. The French journalist Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...
wrote:
- "There was a lot of talk about the relative honesty of the results, and journalists sometimes asked themselves what importance they ought to place on victories in these six-day races. The best of the field combined between themselves, it was known, to fight against other teams and to get their own hands on the biggest prizes, which they then shared between them. This coalition, cruelly nicknamed the Blue Train [after a luxury rail service patronised by the rich] imposed its rule and sometimes even the times of the race, the length of the rest periods. The little teams fought back on certain days but, generally, the law belonged to the cracks, better equipped physically and often better organised."
1924 Summer Olympics
For the 1924 Summer Olympics1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France...
, the velodrome hosted boxing
Boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics
These are the results of the boxing competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Medals were awarded in 8 weight classes. The competitions were held from 15 July 1924 to 20 July 1924.-Medal summary:-Participating nations:...
, fencing
Fencing at the 1924 Summer Olympics
At the 1924 Summer Olympics, seven fencing events were contested. A women's event, the individual foil, was held for the first time.After the Olympic Games, an Italian and a Hungarian settled a scoring controversy with a real duel...
, weightlifting
Weightlifting at the 1924 Summer Olympics
The weightlifting competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris consisted of five weight classes, all for men only.-Medal summary:-Medal table:-References:...
, and wrestling
Wrestling at the 1924 Summer Olympics
At the 1924 Summer Olympics thirteen wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were six weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and seven classes in freestyle wrestling...
events.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
was a regular fan of six-day and other races at the Vel' d'Hiv' while he lived in Paris. He wrote:
- "I have started many stories about bicycle racing but have never written one that is as good as the races are both on the indoor and outdoor tracks and on the road. But I will get to the Vélodrome d'Hiver with the smoky light of the afternoon and the high-banked wooden track and the whirring sound the tyres made on the wood as the riders passed, the effort and the tactics as the riders climbed and plunged, each one a part of his machine... I must write the strange world of six-day races and the marvels of the road-racing in the mountains. French is the only language it has ever been written in properly and the terms are all French and that is what makes it hard to write."
Boxing
BoxingBoxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
began at the Vel' d'Hiv' after a meeting between an American, Jeff Dickson, and Henri Desgrange, the track's main owner and leading promoter. Dickson arrived in France from Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
in 1917, as a "sammie". Sammies, named after the owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, were cameramen sent from the USA to film American soldiers in World War I.
Dickson stayed on in France after the war and began promoting boxing in the Wagram area of Paris. He and Desgrange got on and the two agreed he should organise a first boxing tournament at the Vel' d'Hiv' in 1929. The main match pitted Milou ¨Pladner against Frank Genaro and brought in 920,110 francs.
The Lion Hunt and other spectacles
Dickson joined the management of the Vel' d'Hiv' and from 1931 organised spectacles in the flat area in the centre of the cycling track. He removed several pillars from the arena that blocked the view of some spectators, took up the roller-skating rink, laid an ice rinkIce rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
of 60m by 30m, then constructed a cover for the rink to allow its use for other activities.
Under Dickson, the Vel' d'Hiv' became home to the Français Volants ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team. The rink also featured shows by the skater Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...
. He also staged wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
and variety shows.
His most spectacular venture was his greatest and most expensive flop. Dickson discovered from the newspaper Paris-Midi, that the Schneider circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
was auctioning 100 lions. Dickson bought the animals that same day, along with their cages and trailers, for 80,000 francs. He constructed a stage set and acquired two sick camels abandoned by a circus at Maisons-Alfort; he hired fire-eaters and employed 20 actors to dress as African explorers - all to stage a spectacle called The Lion Hunt.
The lions, however, arrived from Naples feeling tired and limp. Dickson assured reporters they needed only a meal and began importing dead animals from local abattoirs. Things didn't improve. On the first night of the show, all 100 lions were released into the arena but showed no signs of excitement, still less ferocity. Dickson ordered his "explorers" to fire into the air to wake them up. The air became bitter with cordite fumes but the lions did little more than stroll about and urinate on the scenery.
Now convinced the animals were harmless, stagehands began beating them, at which children began to cry and parents shouted angry protests. The organizers withdrew the animals and moved to the next act of the show. Things went little better. The camels refused to walk in a line, as in a desert caravan. And their attendants, who were unemployed black people recruited from the streets, stumbled in the sand under their unaccustomed stage clothing. The show's run was abandoned.
Dickson now had two camels and 100 lions that he no longer needed. An assistant tied the camels behind a car, led them to the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
and abandoned them. There they were found by the police. Eventually Dickson rented the camels and lions to another circus for 10,000 francs a week, only for the circus to fail and Dickson to be summoned to collect his animals. By now he was also being pursued by the Société de Protection des Animaux for cruelty in abandoning the camels. The animals were finally sent to a zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
near Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
The venture ended with the loss of 700,000 francs by the Vel' d'Hiv.
Dickson returned to America in 1939 and died when his bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
was shot down at St-André-de-l'Eure on 14 July, France's national day, in 1943. He is buried at in the American cemetery at Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
west of Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, beneath the third cross in the front row.
The Vélodrome d'hiver was also the venue of the 1951
Eurobasket 1951
The 1951 European Basketball Championship, commonly called Eurobasket 1951, was the seventh regional championship held by FIBA Europe. Eighteen national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation entered the competition, a record number and more than twice the number that had...
European basketball championship
Eurobasket
The EuroBasket, also referred to as the FIBA European Basketball Championship, is the main basketball competition contested biennially by the men's national teams governed by FIBA Europe, the European zone within the International Basketball Federation. The championship was first held in 1935 and...
.
Vel' d'Hiv Roundup
The Vel' d'Hiv was available for hire to whoever wanted it. Among those who booked was Jacques DoriotJacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot was a French politician prior to and during World War II. He began as a Communist but then turned Fascist.-Early life and politics:...
, a stocky, round-faced man who led France's largest fascist party, the PPF
Parti Populaire Français
The Parti Populaire Français was a fascist political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II...
. It was at the Vel' d'Hiv, among other venues, that Doriot, with his Hitler-like salute, roused crowds to join his cause.
In 1940, the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
and occupied its northern half, including Paris. On 7 June 1942 they completed plans for Operation Spring Breeze (Opération Vent printanier), to arrest 28,000 foreign and stateless Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
using 9,000 French policemen. Arrests started early on July 16 and were complete by the next day. Among those who helped in the round-up were 3,400 young members of Doriot's PPF.
Needing a place to hold the detainees, the Germans demanded the keys of the Vel' d'Hiv from its owner, Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....
, who had taken over from his father Victor and from Henri Desgrange. The circumstances in which Goddet surrendered the keys remain a mystery, and the episode occupies only a few lines in his autobiography.
The Vel' d'Hiv had a glass roof, which had been painted dark blue to help avoid attracting bomber navigators. The dark glass roof, combined with windows screwed shut for security, raised the temperature inside the structure. The 13,152 people held there had no lavatories; of the 10 available, five were sealed because their windows offered a way out, and the others were blocked. The arrested Jews were kept there for eight days with only water and food brought by Quakers, the Red Cross and the few doctors and nurses allowed to enter.
Those arrested were sent to an internment camp in half-completed tower blocks at Drancy
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
and then to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. Only 400 survived.
Post-war track encounter
An enthusiast, John Aulton, described the track in the first years after the war. He visited Paris on a tour organised for English schoolchildren who slept in tents in the grounds of a lycée. He was alone in wanting to see the Vélodrome d'Hiver. He wrote:- "I set out on my Raleigh Sports... I arrived elated and full of anticipation but my joy was short-lived, all the doors were locked and barred and there was no sign of life. Without warning a side door flew open and a small powerfully built man came hurtling out of the gloom into the sunlight. A flapping empty sleeve hung where his right arm should have been. He poured a tirade of French at me before stepping back inside and slamming the door. I gave the door another swift kick and shouted in English that all I wanted was to see the famous track. The door slowly opened and the one-armed man stepped outside, but this time a broad smile covered his previously angry face."Anglais?" he said, as if uttering some special password. He spoke in halting English. Did I know WembleyWembleyWembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
? He had ridden the London six-day there? He put his one good arm around my shoulder and escorted me and my Raleigh into the stadium.
- "The old track was looking the worse for wear. There was dust everywhere and the shafts of sunlight that penetrated the dirty blue skylights picked out the particles dancing in the air. I walked over to the banking and touched the boards that had seen so much drama. Suddenly and without explanation a feeling of fear and revulsion came over me; I grabbed my bike and ran as fast as I could into the outside world. The door would not open at first but a panic-stricken tug freed it and I dashed out into the heat of a Parisian afternoon and pedalled away not caring in which direction just so long as I could get away from the Vélodrome d'Hiver."
The beginning of the end
The last six-day race at the Vel' d'Hiv' started on 7 November 1958. The stars were Roger RivièreRoger Rivière
Roger Rivière was a French track and road bicycle racer. He raced as a professional from 1957 to 1960....
, Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964...
, Fausto Coppi
Fausto Coppi
Angelo Fausto Coppi, , was the dominant international cyclist of the years each side of the Second World War. His successes earned him the title Il Campionissimo, or champion of champions...
and André Darrigade
André Darrigade
André Darrigade was a French professional road bicycle racer between 1951 and 1966. Darrigade, a road sprinter won the 1959 World Championship and 22 stages of the Tour de France. Five of those were on the first day. The record has never been equalled.-Origins:André Darrigade was born at Narosse,...
. The race was run with teams of three. Rivière had to drop out after a crash with Anquetil in the first hours; on 12 November, Darrigade won the biggest prime, or intermediate prize, ever offered at the track: one million francs. The overall winners were Anquetil and his partners, Darrigade and Terruzzi.The building had grown old, dirty and dusty and leaked when it rained. Electricity cables hung in loops.
The final night at the Vel' d'Hiv was 12 May 1959, featuring the painter Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
. Among his stage props was a model of the Eiffel Tower, which he exploded to symbolise the end of the exhibition hall in which he stood.
The end
A fire destroyed part of the Vélodrome d'Hiver in 1959 and the rest was demolished. A block of flats and a building belonging to the Ministry of the Interior now stand on the site. A plaque marking the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv was placed on the track building and moved to 8 boulevard de Grenelle in 1959. On 3 February 1993, the President, François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, commissioned a monument to be erected on the site.
It stands now on a curved base, to represent the cycle track, on the edge of the quai de Grenelle. It is the work of the sculptor Walter Spitzer and the architect Mario Azagury. Spitzer and his family were survivors of deportation to Auschwitz. The statue represents all deportees but especially those of the Vel' d'Hiv. The sculpture includes children, a pregnant woman and a sick man. The words on the monument are: "The French Republic in homage to victims of racist and antisemitic persecutions and of crimes against humanity committed under the authority of the so-called 'Government of the State of France.'"
The statue was inaugurated on 17 July 1994. A ceremony is held there every year and it was during a ceremony that Jacques Chirac, successor to François Mitterrand, made his remarks about the guilt of the French police and gendarmerie in collaborating with the Germans. The statue was placed on land given by the city of Paris and paid for by the Ministère des Anciens Combattants. The statue is cared for by the defence ministry.