Sarah's Key

The French have a long history of anti-semitism.

In the 1700's, Voltaire's famous novel Candide is full of negative references to Jews. At the turn of the century, around 1900, the famous Dreyfus case erupted. A French captain, who was Jewish, was framed for a crime he did not commit. Emile Zola, the famous novelist, jumped to Dreyfus' defense by writing, J'Accuse. He was found dead under mysterious circumstances weeks later. Forty years later, Celine wrote "Bagatelles pour un massacre," in which the author described how best to annihilate the Jewish people. Over centuries, synagogues have been pillaged. French Jews have long felt like a people "non grata" in their own land.

So: When the Nazis entered Paris in June of 1940 and began their five year occupation, the French were all-too-willing to help them round up Jews. This reality forms the basis for Sarah's Key.

The movie is brilliant. It tells us about history through the eyes of a single young survivor, 12 year old Sarah. Kristin Scott Thomas, bilingual in English and French, does a superb job as the newspaper journalist investigating the survivor.

Never a spoiler, I can't say much more about the plot.

Back to history, therefore. It is documented that, in 1942, the French police rounded up some 80,000 Parisian Jews and put 13,000 of them in a holding tank, a large indoor arena for bicycle races. The arena was called Le Velodrome d'Hiver, or Le Vel d'Hiv (prounounced valedeev) as it is known today. For two weeks, French citizens were held in squalid conditions until they were transported to Auschwitz, where they perished.

Fact: Out of the 80,000 Jews rounded up, only 3,000 survived. On a percentage basis, therefore, the French were more efficient killers of Jews than any other European people.

Personal account: I once asked an elderly French person about the Vel d'Hiv event. She answered in French, "Quoi?" Yeah, right. Similarly, ask older Germans in Munich about the location of Dacau, located on the edge of town, and they'll answer, "What?" We must re-visit the past not to repeat it. No one must deny what happened.

Sarah's Key is a must-see. Very insightful, and sad, as you'd expect. Grade of A+