Memorial plaque for rescue family damaged in Paris's 12th arrondissement

Paris – 18 July 2026: A memorial plaque honouring Arsène Richard, his wife Angèle and their daughter Marcelle has been damaged in Paris’s 12th arrondissement. The plaque is located on Rue Louis Braille and commemorates the Richard family, who protected a Jewish boy from their neighbourhood from persecution during the German occupation. Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire made the incident public on Friday.

The damage occurred during the days commemorating the Velodrome d’Hiver roundup. On 16 and 17 July 1942, more than 13,000 Jews were arrested in Paris, including many children. Many of those arrested were initially imprisoned at the Vélodrome d’Hiver and subsequently deported via French transit camps to German extermination camps.

The Richard family took in the young Edmond Richemond after his mother was arrested during the roundup. According to the French Committee for Yad Vashem, Marcelle Richard, and not only her parents, was among those who protected the boy. The Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem recognised Arsène, Angèle and Marcelle Richard as Righteous Among the Nations in 2018.

The memorial plaque on the building on Rue Louis Braille refers to this story of rescue. According to the French Committee for Yad Vashem, it was unveiled in 2021. The site of remembrance thus represents the individual protection that non-Jewish families granted to those persecuted at considerable personal risk. The public tribute is also intended to preserve the history of those who were saved.

Grégoire condemned the damage and linked his response to an expression of solidarity with Paris’s Jewish population. No reliable information was initially available on exactly when the plaque was damaged, the extent of the material damage, or whether a criminal investigation had already been launched. No confirmed information was published about possible suspects or a motive either.

The incident once again draws attention to the importance of memorial markers in public spaces. In Paris, numerous plaques, schools, streets and memorial sites commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution as well as people who helped Jews during the occupation. The damaged plaque for the Richard family stands in a residential neighbourhood where the story of Edmond Richemond’s rescue remains concretely tied to an address.