Marches have been taking place in France to pay respect to an 85-year-old woman who managed to survive the Holocaust - but was stabbed to death in what is now being investigated as an anti-Semitic attack.
Mireille Knoll was killed by two men, aged 22 and 29, before they set her local authority flat on fire. The two suspects have been arrested and placed under formal investigation, the Guardian reports.
According to the BBC, a police source told French media that one of the men had previously been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl, who had been staying in Knoll's flat.
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Knoll had also reportedly complained to police that a neighbour had threatened to set her home on fire.
As a nine-year-old child in 1942, Knoll had managed to evade the Vel d'Hiv round-up of around 13,000 Jewish people in Paris, which included more than 4,000 children.
After being brought together at the Vel d'Hiv velodrome in Drancy (a northeastern suburb of Paris), they were later deported to Nazi death camp. Fewer than 100 returned.
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Knoll's friends and family urged people to join them in the silent marches, arguing that her murder was not just an attack on a member of the Jewish community but on the community as a whole.
Speaking Tuesday to The Associated Press, her son Daniel said, 'My mother had a thirst for knowledge and meeting new people and talking to them, and that's what killed her.'
The marches last week saw thousands of people - including politicians from across the political spectrum - pay tribute to the late Holocaust survivor.
Far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen and hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon had announced that they would attend, despite Jewish leaders requesting that they stayed away.
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However, Daniel Knoll went against CRIF - the umbrella group for France's Jewish communities - by simply saying that 'everyone without exception' could attend.
"CRIF is being political, I'm opening my heart to all those who have a mother. Everyone is concerned. Anyone with a mother knows what I'm talking about ..." he told RMC Radio.
Knoll's death has raised questions about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France, with many believing that more needs to be done to stop it.
Just last month, a judge confirmed that last year's murder of Sarah Halimi - the 65-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman who was beaten and thrown from her window - was driven by anti-Semitism.
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Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: France