Holocaust survivor to speak at Jan. 25 Honors College lecture

The Honors College is hosting a special lecture Tuesday, Jan. 25, with Holocaust survivor Joseph Weismann, who will discuss his harrowing experiences as an 11-year-old boy during the round-up and internment of thousands of Jews in the Velodrome d’Hiver in Paris by French police in July 1942.

Joseph Weismann with actor Hugo Leverdez, who portrayed a young Weismann in La Rafle.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the new SIPA building, Room 125, at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Weismann’s story is the inspiration for the popular French movie, La Rafle. The film chronicles the horrific conditions of the internment camps in France during World War II as seen through the eyes of the young Weismann. His escape from one of the camps makes him one of the few French children to have survived the mass deportation of Jewish families to the extermination camps.

The 80-year-old Weismann resides in Le Mans, France. He is a frequent speaker in French schools, where he talks to students about his legacy as a witness to this troubling period in French history. La Rafle (The Round Up) will be making its Miami premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival Saturday, Jan. 29, at 8:30 p.m., at the Sunrise Cinema located in North Miami Beach.