For him the connection between the past and the present was seamless, especially when it came to monitoring the police: "They stole years of life from my parents. They all joined in those round-ups when required. Barely one of them resigned. If the French police had not submitted to those orders, so much damage would never have occurred. 250,000 were deported from France. 76,000 of those were Jews: most of the others were communists and gaullists...And what can you say about the policeman, writing a report to the prefecture, who dared to write on 22 July: "The Winter Velodrome has been cleared". There were still 50 sick Jews there, and items of lost property, all of which were transferred to the internee transit camp at Drancy."