From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Paris plaque honoring family that saved Jewish child in 1942 vandalized ahead of ceremony
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A plaque in Paris honoring a couple and their daughter who saved a 13-year-old child during the Vel d’Hiv roundup was vandalized ahead of a ceremony marking the mass arrest of Jews in the city in 1942, French authorities say.
The plaque at 15 rue Louis-Braille had commemorated Arsène and Angele Richard, and their daughter Marcelle, who were recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations. A photo shared by the mayor of Paris shows it broken and cracked.
Au 15 rue Louis Braille, dans le 12e arrondissement de Paris, une plaque commémorative rendant hommage à un couple de Justes et à leur fille, qui sauvèrent un enfant lors de la rafle du Vél’ d’Hiv’ a été dégradée.
À l’heure où l’antisémitisme progresse chaque jour dans la… pic.twitter.com/5wYjgqjbFA— Emmanuel Grégoire (@egregoire) July 17, 2026
“To attack the Righteous is to desecrate the entire universe,” says deputy defense minister Alice Rufo at the memorial. “The plaque will be restored. Their memory remains undiminished. In the face of antisemitism, in all its forms, the Republic will not yield an inch.”
French police under the Vichy regime rounded up thousands of Jews over two days in July 1942, wresting children from their mothers’ arms and dispatching everyone to Nazi death camps. At a time of rising antisemitism, France honors those victims every year as it tries to keep their memory alive.
France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population and has seen a surge in antisemitic acts, including threats, vandalism and physical violence, following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The Times of Israel Community.