Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation

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Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation

The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation (German: Memorial for the Martyrs of the Deportation ) is a memorial on the Île de la Cité in Paris in memory of those deported from France between 1941 and 1944. Its architecture is intended to help to recall the suffering of the deportees and to encourage the visitor to think and devotion. This monument has been classified as Monument historique since November 23, 2007 .

Origin and location

It was built on behalf of the Réseau du Souvenir , the network of remembrance , which donated a donation to the state on February 29, 1964. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris at the eastern point of the Île de la Cité .

The project was realized by the architect Georges-Henri Pingusson and approved by President Charles de Gaulle on April 12, 1962 .

description

At first glance, the monument looks like a white stone bunker and is accessed via relatively narrow, uneven and steep steps. The concrete structure is covered with a hammered facade and covered with gravel from the different regions of France, which imitates the surface of a rough natural stone. The crypt, the core of the monument, unfolds from a triangular inner courtyard, with narrow and poorly lit passages. The long corridor, protected by bars, shows 200,000 glass rods on its walls as a symbol for the countless victims of deportation to Nazi camps. At the entrance to this hall there is a grave with the remains of an unknown victim who died in the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp and was transferred here on April 10, 1962.

The triangular courtyard opens to the river with a horizontal opening that is hidden by angular poles. The visitor is almost at the level of the Seine and through the window opening you can see the flowing water or look straight up at the sky. After descending the stairs, visitors describe a feeling of strangeness, perceiving themselves as outside the world as we know it. Left and right are urns in round protuberances that contain earth from various Nazi camps or ashes from the crematoria. Excerpts from the poems or quotes by Robert Desnos , Paul Éluard , Louis Aragon , Vercors , Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , Jean-Augustin Maydieu and Jean-Paul Sartre are written on the walls .

Above there are several exhibition rooms that can only be entered on request.

Opening times and events

The monument is free to enter, for children only when accompanied by an adult; daily except Monday mornings and afternoons. Every last Sunday in April there is a commemorative event on the occasion of the Journée nationale du souvenir de la déportation , the French day of remembrance of the victims of the Nazi deportations , which takes place on April 28th.

Web links

Commons : Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation  - Collection of images, videos and audio files