French judiciary classifies 1943 Marseille Old Port roundups as crimes against humanity

Judicial classification

French judicial authorities formally classified the 1943 roundups in the Old Port of Marseille as a crime against humanity on 30 September 2026. National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor Olivier Christen travelled to France's second-largest city to present the findings directly to the last surviving victims and their families. The investigation established that the mass arrests, widespread looting, and systematic demolition of the Saint-Jean neighborhood met every legal standard for crimes against humanity. Christen stated during a press conference that the historical events remain relatively unknown among French citizens despite the colossal scale of the police actions. The prosecutor explained that the atrocities deliberately targeted residents who wartime authorities treated as inferior populations.

The raid conducted in Marseille, in the Saint-Jean district, on 23 and 24 January 1943, as well as the looting and destruction of the district from February 1943, undoubtedly characterize crimes against humanity.

The 1943 roundups and demolition

Nazi occupation authorities ordered Operation Sultan between 22 and 24 January 1943, which French police executed under the direction of Vichy police secretary-general René Bousquet. The operation represented one of the largest mass roundups in occupied France, taking place six months after the Vel d'Hiv roundup in Paris. Authorities focused the operation on Saint-Jean behind the Old Port, a working-class neighborhood nicknamed little Naples that housed a large Italian immigrant population. German commanders and Vichy officials characterized the densely populated district as a pigsty and a center of resistance networks. Beginning in February 1943, occupation forces systematically looted the entire district before dynamiting 1,500 residential buildings.

Internment and deportation to extermination camps

Operation Sultan forced 20,000 people from their homes throughout the Old Port area. Authorities transferred thousands of evicted residents under guard to an internment facility in Fréjus in the neighboring Var department. Judicial investigators confirmed that 1,600 people were subsequently deported to concentration camps across Europe. Among those deportees, approximately 800 Jewish residents arrested in the nearby Opera district were transported directly to Nazi death camps. Antoine Mignemi, who was five years old during the raid and is now 89, recalled his mother waking him with terror at six in the morning because French police were at their door demanding immediate departure.

It is something extraordinary that French justice finally recognizes the tragedy of the port of Marseille.

Investigation initiated by survivors

The judicial ruling concludes a seven-year investigation conducted by the Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity. Marseille lawyer Pascal Luongo initiated the case in 2019 by submitting a formal legal complaint alongside 19 survivors and descendants of victims. The magistrate confirmed that extensive inquiries failed to locate any surviving perpetrators or officials involved in Operation Sultan to face criminal prosecution. While no criminal trial can take place due to the passage of over 83 years, civil parties welcomed the formal designation as an essential acknowledgment of state collaboration and civilian suffering.

This recognition of crimes against humanity has the value of moral reparation.