Paying Respects to Holocaust Victims in Paris: Are the Vélodrome d'Hiver & Drancy Camp respectable museums to visit? Are they even museums?

6/23/2020 2:39:31 PM

At the eastern end of the Île de la Cité, behind Notre Dame, is the Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation (Deportation Martyrs Memorial). Opened in 1962, it memorializes all, Jews and non-Jews, who were deported from Vichy France during WWII.

While criticized for wrongly assimilating the deportation and murder of Jews into the greater polity of France, the crypt-like underground space, with spare exhibits, is a powerful experience for the viewer.

Source: I’ve been there.

6/22/2020 8:27:22 PM

I don’t think there’s a museum at the Velodrome d’Hiver site (the building itself doesn’t exist anymore). There’s a monument there : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_des_Martyrs-Juifs-du-V%C3%A9lodrome-d%27Hiver

This is a public space where you can go as you wish. On certain occasion, there might be public ceremonies taking place here, notably around the end of july which is the date where the actual ‘rafle’ took place.

There’s a memorial in Drancy : http://drancy.memorialdelashoah.org/en/the-drancy-memorial/presentation.html I think it is managed by the Memorial de la Shoah foundation. The website gives some details on how to plan your visit : http://drancy.memorialdelashoah.org/en/the-drancy-memorial/planning-your-visit.html The website might help you getting more information on what to expect in this memorial.

Notice that the Memorial de la Shoah foundation also have a museum space inside Paris : http://www.memorialdelashoah.org/en/the-memorial/planning-your-visit.html

In addition, you can also have a guided visit at the Bobigny train station from where several convoy left for death camps : https://exploreparis.com/en/111-bobigny-deportation-center-station.html

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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