Paris Eiffel Tower

Sarah's Key' unlocks painful memories of the Shoah

Sixty-nine years ago this month, nearly 13,000 Jews were rounded up by French gendarmes and taken to the Velodrome d’hiver sports arena, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They were held there for days without food, water, or sanitation facilities, and then were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. French policemen, not Nazi soldiers, carried out the operation — and what is even more startling is that, for 50 years, most French felt no responsibility for the action.

The “Vel’ d’hiv’ roundup,” as it was called, became a symbol of national guilt and outrage. Twenty-five years after the liberation of Paris, in 1969, French Jewish filmmaker Marcel Ophuls took aim at the French nation in his provocative four-and-a-half-hour documentary “The Sorrow and The Pity,” where he dealt with the question of collaboration during World War II. The film was immediately banned by a government that was far from ready to tackle the question of its own culpability in the war. The official government position was that France’s wartime Vichy regime was not synonymous with the French state and in an effort to heal a country torn apart by war, why dig up old dirt? Though not legally screened in France for a decade, there were underground screenings of Ophuls’ film throughout the country and it was widely distributed around the world, even nominated here for an Academy Award. The film ignited soul-searching by a new French generation and the creation of a spate of French films that looked closely at the role of the French in the Holocaust. Still, it took 50 years before a government official, President Jacques Chirac, finally acknowledged that the French nation bore responsibility for the deportation of Jews.

It is against this background that French film writer/director Gilles Paquet-Brenner took on the adaptation of Tatiana de Rosnay’s popular novel “Sarah’s Key.” It is the story of an American-born investigative journalist, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, who is married to a Frenchmen and based in Paris. There, she discovers something quite strange about her husband’s family’s apartment, into which she is about to move. It ignites an inquiry into the past that takes her to Holocaust archives, interviews with Holocaust survivors, and a visit to the now defunct site of the “Vel’ d’hiv’.” Just exactly what happened there? Who participated? Who is responsible? Who benefited? Strangely, she continually comes up against people who ask why she needs to explore the past? Why don’t you just let it be? What’s past is done! But her search leads her on a quest for meaning and understanding that will dramatically change her life and that of her family. Just exactly who needs to know the truth? In fact, Paquet-Brenner, through the character of journalist Julia Jarmond, does what Ophuls did a generation earlier — he puts the entire nation of France on trial.

Bargain at the Opera | Paris Eiffel Tower News

Paris is thought of as an expensive city when it comes to hotels – but it is not necessarily the case. A room in one of the ultra-cheap hotels on the outskirts – most of these hotels don’t even have a website – would start at around 40-50 euros a night. A decent budget hotel – still not in the center, but in more interesting locations such as Bastille or Montmartre – would charge around 60 euros for a room or more. In popular central locations, such as the Opera quarter, the Marais or Saint-Germain, a cheap hotel room would start above 100 euros. Well, this is the general landscape – we’ll show you the exceptions.

The Opera quarter in one of the most prestigious locations: very central (2nd arrondissement), close to the Louvre, Tuileries Garden, the Bourse, Place Vendôme, Madeleine, the Opéra and the big department stores, it is an elegant and up-market area, popular with both locals and visitors. In the heart of the district stands Hotel Choiseul Opera, a 3-star hotel, which deserves to be mentioned.

It is a fairly big hotel in a corner building, with a spacious lobby area – pleasant enough to hang out to read a newspaper, but nothing really special. However, the contemporary rooms are surely above average. Recently renovated, they all have air-conditioning, phone, flat-screen TV, minibar and safe, and are quite spacious with Parisian standards. Warm colors dominate, providing a cozy and ambient environment. The superior rooms are especially stylish, and the bathrooms are stunning.

So how much is a room in this hotel? Taking advantage of their special deals, you can get a double from as low as 62 euros or a triple from 72 – the superior rooms are a bit more but still very reasonable. It is truly and amazing bargain, one of the best kept secrets of Paris – please, let’s keep it between us, don’t tell to too many people.

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