Plot

Paris, 16 July, 1942. Paul, an idealist student, tries to save some people from the huge "Vel d'Hiv Roundup" by police and gendarmes of over 13,000 Jewish inhabitants for deportation to Auschwitz. There he meets one young woman, Jeanne.

Paris, July 1942. Paul, an idealist student, is warned of a vast roundup of Jews (the one that will remain under the name of "Vel d'Hiv"). In the hope of saving a few people, he wanders all day among the police, buses and families in tears, in the Saint-Paul district, to prevent and offer his help. Not being Jewish, he will not be worried by the police and the person - woman or child - who accompanies him will thus pass through the cracks. Unfortunately, his initiatives, sometimes clumsy, come up against incomprehension or disbelief. "French Jew, I'm not afraid," says a young woman arrested shortly thereafter. Discouraged, Paul accidentally avoids a girl from falling into the raid and, for several hours, tries to convince her to flee with him. It resists, at the same time for lack of confidence, fatalism and attachment to its traditionalist Jewish family. Often helped by the compassion of Parisians, young people escape the dangers and in the afternoon, discover, esteem, dream of a future, perhaps love. But, having arrived at the windows of the Louvre, left bank, salvation, Jeanne prefers to return to her family and this fidelity may lead to death.—Franz

July 16, 1942, in the heart of the Second World War. Paul, a student, learns that the police have completely cordoned off the Saint-Paul district, in Paris, to arrest all the Jews who live there. Rebellious, he wants to do everything possible to save the maximum of lives. He goes to a friend who refuses to help him. The young man perseveres and joins the neighborhood, completely invested by the police forces. He tries to persuade the Jews to give up the yellow star and run away. Wasted effort. Rabred by a young girl, Jeanne, he manages to accompany him to his boss, a furrier working for the Germans.—Michel Mitrani