Memorial de Martyrs
de la Deportation
What is the Memorial of the Martyrs of the Deportation?
- The Memorial was designed to represent features of the Nazi concentration camps, with narrow passages, tight stairways, spiked gates and restricted views. It was designed by Georges Henri Pingusson.
- On the walls are texts and poems.
- The memorial was made to remember the 200,000 people who were deported from France to the Nazi concentration camps between 1940-1945.
The memorial is often overlooked, because there are many shops and other, more popular landmarks, such as the Notre Dame. The memorial is a more quiet place; small and simple, from the outside it doesn't look like anything special. But going inside, many people find it to be very saddening.
Top view of the memorial.
There is a circular plaque on the floor says: "They descended into the mouth of the earth and they did not return."
An entrance to the memorial
The black triangles in the walls have the names of the death camps and contain soil and the ashes of the victims from the camps.
Inside is a corridor with stones, each one representing one of the 200,000 people deported.
One of the inscriptions, translated as "Forgive, do not forget"
Admission, Hours, and Location.
It is open daily (but closed on Mondays) 10am to 5pm from October through March, and 10am to 7pm from April through September, and It is free to visit. It is in the Île de la Cité.
There is also an official website here: http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/memorial-des-martyrs-de-la-deportation