This week marks the 80th anniversary of the Marseille Roundup, the largest sponsored roundup during World War II.
This tragic episode in history, however, remains unknown to the general public.
The descendants of victims like Antoine de Gennaro are fighting to bring this roundup out of oblivion.
A life dedicated to patiently putting together a titanic puzzle, piece by piece.
To put words, situations, images on a heavy silence.
That of his father, modeled on that of France.
For years, Antoine de Gennaro has been trying to understand how the lives of his father Alphonse, his grandparents and his great-grandfather changed forever, one morning in January 1943. An episode that no one talked about in his family, and of which very few people from Marseille are still aware today.
It was just 80 years ago.
Between January 22 and 24, 1943, a series of roundups were carried out in the old quarters of Marseilles on the orders of the Nazis, Hitler having decided to "purify" the "canker of Europe", with the participation of the French police. .
This Sultan operation led to the evacuation of approximately 20,000 people and the forced transfer of 12,000 people to a detention camp in Fréjus.
Nearly 800 Jews were sent to die in the Nazi extermination camps, and an entire working-class district called "little Naples", behind the Old Port, was forcibly emptied of its inhabitants, many of them Italian immigrants. .
“Like 90% of deportees, my father was silent”
Among these Italian immigrants was the family of Antoine de Gennaro.
His grandparents run a café near rue du Panier.
On January 24, 1943, his grandmother Augusta, his great-grandfather Alfonso and his father Alphonse, then 17 years old, were arrested.
They are first sent to the camp of Fréjus.
"My great-grandfather was a 70-year-old man," says Antoine de Gennaro.
He died on January 27, 1943 at the Fréjus camp due to bronchitis.
There wasn't enough room in the camp, so he slept on straw in the middle of winter.
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His grandmother and father were deported to two different camps, and both survived.
On his return to Marseille, his father weighed 31 kg.
And for years, Antoine de Gennaro will know little more.
"My father died when I was 26," he explains.
At that time, we didn't have the same relationship with our parents.
He spoke very little about what he experienced.
Like 90% of deportees, he was silent.
I just knew the hell of deportation.
I asked my father several times what had happened.
He replied that he would tell me when the time came.
And that time never came.
I deeply regret it.
»
A complaint for a crime against humanity
So, Antoine de Gennaro begins research.
“I wanted to write a ten-page memoir for my children,” he confides.
I'm at 165 pages.
By dint of research, letters, documents gleaned here and there, Antoine de Gennaro reconstructs thread after thread the unfolding of History.
"It's the biggest roundup, ahead of that of Vel d'Hiv," he recalls.
It was the same system and the same characters.
But for the Vel d'Hiv, they mainly arrested Jews of foreign origin.
The Old Port roundup is 90% French.
The German authorities take this decision in order to counter the attacks against the Nazis that occurred shortly afterwards in Marseille.
A first roundup was first organized in the Opéra district on January 22 and 24,
a neighborhood where Jews were numerous because of the proximity to the synagogue.
On January 24, the raid was extended to the nearby Saint-Jean district.
After the evacuation of thousands of people, the Nazis proceed to the destruction of 1,500 buildings on 14 hectares in the district.
"Raving a neighborhood is not innocent," insists Antoine de Gennaro.
It was a real estate operation planned by the Germans and the French for an urbanization project.
And they chose a neighborhood with a majority of Italians, ordinary people.
It is a racist act.
Today a member of the young collective Saint-Jean 24 January 1943, Antoine de Gennaro fights for justice to do its job.
After a complaint from the collective, an investigation was opened in 2019 for crimes against humanity.
"It's important to recognize what happened," says Antoine de Gennaro.
The man also makes it a point of honor to raise awareness among the youngest about this episode, and will participate in the commemorative ceremonies planned in Marseille on January 29, with in particular the inauguration of an exhibition which traces this dark episode in the Old Port. of the history of the Phocaean city.
“We have to make sure that it does not fall into oblivion, proclaims Antoine de Gennaro.
When you see what is happening in Europe, Brazil or the United States, with guys attacking the Capitol, there is reason to ask questions… ”
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