The Germans are smarter than you thought. They know that many people, including Jews, are hiding in the Paris sewers, and they set out to catch you. It's really very simple in some cases: they flood the underground tunnels, either drowning the hiding Jews or forcing them out into the open. When Frenchmen who are collaborating with the Nazis tell the SS troops where to find your hiding place, you are taken prisoner.
With your hands above your head, you are marched into the center of the
city and shoved rudely into the Velodrome d'Hiver,
a sports
stadium used in the winter for bicycle racing. If this were a winter day
and you had come to watch the bicycle racing, you would have enjoyed
yourself. But today there are nearly 13,000 Jews crammed into a building
which was designed to hold only 2,500; it is unbearably hot; food,
toilets, and medical help are unavailable. The stench of crowded bodies,
sick people, and human waste is unbelievable. People react in different
ways: Some scream and wail; others curl up silently in resignation; a few
try to figure out an escape route — impossible. Here and there,
someone lies dead. You wonder if they are the lucky ones.
After several days, you are thrown on a bus headed for the detention camp of Drancy, just a few miles north of Paris.
If your trip there occurs without incident, continue to page 97.
If however, your bus has an accident, continue to page 98.