Editing Jacques Chirac (section)

==== State responsibility for the roundup of Jews ====

Prior to 1995, the French government had maintained that the [[French Third Republic|French Republic]] had been dismantled when [[Philippe Pétain]] instituted a new French State during [[World War II]] and that the Republic had been re-established when the war was over. It was not for France, therefore, to apologise for the roundup of Jews for deportation that happened while the Republic had not existed and was carried out by a state, [[Vichy France]], which it did not recognise. President [[François Mitterrand]] had reiterated this position: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible," he said in September 1994.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html|title=Chirac Affirms France's Guilt in Fate of Jews|first=Marlise|last=Simons|date=17 July 1995|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207075618/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html|archive-date=7 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Chirac was the first president of France to take responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the Vichy regime. In a speech made on 16 July 1995 at the site of the [[Vel' d'Hiv Roundup]], where 13,000 Jews had been held for deportation to concentration camps in July 1942, Chirac said, "France, on that day, committed the irreparable". Those responsible for the roundup were "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under the authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis. ... the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755|title=France opens WW2 Vichy regime files|date=28 December 2015|publisher=BBC|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109073634/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755|archive-date=9 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413170546/http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html |date=13 April 2009 }}, Président de la république</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |title=Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris) |work=jacqueschirac-asso |date=16 July 1995 |access-date=17 July 2014 |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724134623/http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>