Anti-Semitism
What aspects of Nazi and Vichy anti-Semitic policies were visible in the streets of Paris? The most obvious elements of anti-Semitic campaigns were Nazi posters containing repulsive images intended to inspire disgust and hate. "We will have seen our fill of horrors, vulgarities, and idiocies on our poor walls!" exclaimed a young diarist named Berthe Auroy in December 1940. On orders from the occupying forces, smaller yellow posters saying "Jewish Business" were pasted on the shop windows of selected stores. And in June 1942 the Germans implemented the requirement that Jews wear the yellow star in the Occupied Zone.
Although it refused to officially participate in the opening of the exhibit Le Juif et la France, the Vichy government placed the police force at the disposal of the Germans for a number of roundups. These examples of participation in anti-Jewish activities were visible only in the immediate neighborhoods in the Eastern and Central parts of the city in which many victims lived. After 1941, discussion of the subject was censored, and deportations train schedules remained secret.
