As part of Operation Dynamo, which was supposed to enable the British and French troops, driven back to the sea, to evacuate Dunkirk, battalions of British soldiers were deployed in the sector of La Plaine au Bois with the mission of delaying the German troops’ advance for a few hours. After 9 hours of heroic fighting known as the Battle of Wormhout, most of the British were wounded and out of ammunition and had to surrender to the enemy. Unfortunately for them, their adversaries were the brutal SS from the Führer’s personal guard who, in total disregard for the Geneva Conventions, herded them into a barn and executed them in cold blood by throwing grenades inside.

Source : Commune of Esquelbecq

Eighty British soldiers and one French soldier were thus slaughtered on 28 May 1940 at 5.30 pm.

Thirteen British soldiers survived and were rescued by the farmers who lived around the site until medical help arrived.

Source : Commune of Esquelbecq

This massacre had remained unknown for a long time until some of the survivors of this tragic episode, who were among the British veterans who had come to commemorate the anniversary of Operation Dynamo, went to look for this site of the massacre and told of what they had lived through. Based on these harrowing stories, a local amateur historian Guy Rommelaere, wrote his book titled "The Forgotten Massacre" (*).

Source : Commune of Esquelbecq

In 2000, after consolidation of the farmland, the pasture where the massacre occurred was nearly turned into ploughland. This was without reckoning with the desires of the elected officials in the three communes of Esquelbecq, Ledringhem and Wormhout, where the events of 28 May 1940 took place. A Franco-British association was set up with the goal of preserving, restoring and maintaining this site fraught with history. The association acquired the pasture and has since built a barn identical to the original, as well as a lookout with an orientation table to be able to locate the various elements of that tragic day and, more recently, a stele of peace and friendship among peoples was inaugurated for the 70th anniversary of Operation Dynamo.

Source : Commune of Esquelbecq

(*)All income from the sale of this book is donated to the association. It is available at the tourism offices of Esquelbecq and Wormhout for 20 euros.

Situated at the foot of the Croix de Lorraine in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, the Charles de Gaulle memorial completes a walk of remembrance consisting of the family residence, La Boisserie and the de Gaulle family tomb, a place for contemplation, steeped in austerity.

La Boisserie. Source : Charles de Gaulle memorial

The village of Colombey-les-deux-Eglises is famous for having been chosen by General de Gaulle as the site of his family home, La Boisserie, on 9th June 1934. The main place of contemplation and writing of the man who made the call of 18th June, La Boisserie immerses the visitor in its family atmosphere, stamped with simplicity. Open to the public, visitors can tour the dining room and lounge, admire the view from the office and immerse themselves in the private life of Charles de Gaulle and his family.

Office of Charles de Gaulle in la Boisserie. Source : photo Philippe Lemoine

Charles de Gaulle memorial, life-size history

However, the one thing was lacking to help visitors understand the man; the Memorial fulfils this role.

Guided tour of the permanent exhibition

The memorial - permanent exhibition. Source : photo Philippe Lemoine

The Educational Department

Kits

Educational kits are provided to teachers. These tools assist students through the exhibition. They also allow them to familiarise themselves with and to summarise the content of the exhibitions. In relation with the official history-geography and civic instruction curricula of the National Education department, they are adjusted to the students' level: primary, secondary, college or sixth form and vocational college.

Educational walks

The walks are led by a Memorial teacher, who can provided a general or more detailed approach of the exhibitions.

Educational workshops

The Memorial also offers:

Practical information

Mémorial Charles de Gaulle
52330 Colombey-les-deux-églises

Educational Centre Team

Céline Anché

Courriel : celine.anche@memorial-charlesdegaulle.fr

The Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp was mainly used for the internment of resistance fighters from across Europe, but homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses were also interned here. The camp’s interns were made to do gruelling forced labour for the economy of the Third Reich. A number of those deported for racial reasons (Jews and Gypsies) were also sent here, to be subjected to horrific pseudo-scientific experiments.

Today, this listed historic site offers the chance to discover the workings of the only concentration camp in France, with its huts, crematorium and gas chamber.

Opened in 2005, the Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté has a definite educational approach to its visits. Touchscreen terminals, films, objects and photos chart the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe and the setting up of the Nazi concentration camp network, whi

le at the same time paying tribute to the resistance movements that rose up against oppression.

A meeting place and discussion forum, the Centre holds regular temporary exhibitions and conferences. It aspires to spread the values of freedom, respect, tolerance and vigilance.
The camp, a major site for national and European remembrance, comes under the responsibility of the National Office for Veterans and Victims of War, an executive agency of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Sources: ©Site de l’ancien camp de concentration de Natzweiler-Struthof - Centre européen du résistant déporté

From the summer of 1943 to the summer of 1944, the Bobigny train station, a vast area including a freight station and a passenger station in the outer ring of Parisian suburbs, became the centre for deporting the Jews held at the Drancy concentration camp, located a little over 2 km away. For this it replaced the Le Bourget station which, starting in March 1942, had been used as the main deportation centre for French Jews.

After World War II, this 3.5-hectare site was used for industrial purposes by a scrap metal dealer who moved in 2005. This place of remembrance, listed on the supplementary Historical Monuments inventory, is the only example in France of a deportation train station that was abandoned and preserved in a condition close to its original layout. It is therefore a unique site.

Registration on the Seine-Saint Denis Tourist Office website:

Bobigny Tourist Office – Tel.: +33 (0)1 48 30 83 29 - E-mail address: otsi@ville-bobigny.fr

School and group visits (by appointment):

Tél : 01 41 60 99 91 - Adresse mail : anne.bourgon@ville-bobigny.fr

ALGERIA

Algeria holds a distinct place in the 20^th century history of the French Empire through its long-standing ties, its close proximity to mainland France and the considerable numbers of Europeans who moved there from 1830 onwards to live and work alongside the local population. The country’s role was intensified during the First World War, when it contributed to the French military effort, and above all during the Second World War, when Algiers became, in spring and summer of 1944, the capital of France Libre. Large numbers of French and Muslims from Algeria played a part in liberating the country. The official assimilation policy in place nevertheless seemed to contradict the political inequality that existed between both groups of the population. Similarly, Algerian nationalism gained ground and demanded that political autonomy and equal rights be recognised for Muslims. The uprising of May 1945, which was harshly suppressed, came as a prelude to the war for independence which broke out on All Saints’ Day 1954, principally in the Aures. In a context of global decolonisation, at a time when the neighbouring protectorates of Tunisia and Morocco were to achieve independence, the image of a prosperous and pacified French Algeria seemed false. The gap widened between the millions of Europeans, mostly city-dwellers attached to a land they considered both their own country and an extension of France, and the eight million Algerian Muslims. The majority of Algerian Muslims lived in rural areas and were threatened by impoverishment, poor access to schooling and inadequate public administration. The integration and social and economic modernisation policy introduced for Algeria in 1955 was an affront to both the European population who wished to maintain the status quo and the Algerian nationalists assembled within the FLN (the National Liberation Front). Far from being quelled, the conflict intensified and grew, the FLN demanding each member of the Algerian population to choose a side. Meanwhile, France stepped up its military action by sending a contingent to Algeria in 1955. The French army patrolled the country, carried out administration, conducted psychological operations, provided social aid and hunted out members of the ALN (National Liberation Army). However, no solution was in sight.

The Reform Act of February 1958 recognised the Algerian personality while affirming that Algeria was an integral part of the French Republic.

The weakness of the Fourth Republic, which was unsuccessful in bringing an end to the Algerian uprising, the fear of the Europeans in Algeria of seeing their country lost to the FLN and the army’s desire to not surrender explain the crisis of May 1958 and General de Gaulle's return to power. At the same time as relaunching a military campaign, General de Gaulle offered a “peace of the braves” (paix des braves) and implemented an extensive economic development programme: the Constantine Plan. Its effects were limited. The war continued despite the setbacks suffered by the ALN. The cause for Algerian independence won new supporters daily internationally and in French public opinion. The change of de Gaulle’s Algerian policy, from a position of self-determination (September 1959) to one of an ‘Algerian’ Algeria (November 1960), radicalised the opposition. This was demonstrated most decisively in Algiers during the barricades (January 1960) and the putsch of April 1961. Comforted by the results of the referendum of January 1961 which garnered the support of three-quarters of the citizens of mainland France, General de Gaulle entered into peace talks with the GPRA (the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic), a series of long negotiations which concluded with the signing of the Evian Agreements on 18 March 1962. The proclamation of a ceasefire from 19 March did not bring an end to the violence, of which the harkis, killed in their thousands, were the principal victims. In amidst this chaotic situation, France recognised Algeria’s independence on 3 July 1962, which then led to the return of the Europeans to their home countries and the end of the French presence in Algeria which had lasted for over 130 years on the other side of the Mediterranean.

MOROCCO

In Morocco, a French protectorate since 1912, the 1940 defeat struck a harsh blow to French prestige, even though the recruitment of Moroccan units to the French service did not stop at that time. Nationalism gained support encouraged by the Istiqlal (Independence Party) and Sultan Mohammed V ben Youssef, who became the symbol of the call for independence. In 1952, anti-French demonstrations cropped up more and more. From that moment, a show of force became inevitable: distrustful of the progressive forces, the French government replaced the Sultan on 20 August 1953, a political action that did not stop nationalist terrorism taking place and even caused violent clashes amongst the European working classes.

After an imposed exile in Corsica followed by Madagascar (1953-1955), Mohamed V triumphantly returned to obtain the independence of Morocco from France, achieved on 2 March 1956.

TUNISIA

Made a French protectorate by the Treaty of Bardo (1881), Tunisia was, during the course of the Second World War, a stage for confrontations between the Axis army troops and the Allies (1942-1943), while the Tunisian regiments earned recognition in Italy and in France in 1943-1944. Tunisian nationalism, led by the Neo Destour Party under Habib Bourguiba, gave rise to acts of terrorism and a start of guerrilla warfare from 1952 onwards. For two years, the French army had to fight against an armed movement which committed several attacks in Tunis and other cities around the country.

After the agreements signed in June 1955 but which collapsed even before they were put into action, the protocol of 20 March 1956 abolished the Treaty of Bardo and recognised total independence for the Kingdom of Tunis.

The Republic of Tunisia was declared one year later and Bourguiba was appointed the republic’s first president.

EXCERPT FROM THE ARTIST’S NOTE OF INTENTION (Gérard COLLIN-THIÉBAUT)

Monuments to the dead are links to a past memory and, a century later, their forms have become part of our collective memory: testaments to history, they stand silent in every town, erected in homage to those who sacrificed their life to make sense of death and keep remembrance alive. They often reach up to the sky, whatever their shape, and are engraved with lists of names. When looking at a monument, our eyes are drawn from bottom to top, yet we read the names from top to bottom. For this project, I wanted to respond to this instinct for identification, keeping our eyes drawn from bottom to top, using columns, but also to offer a modern way of reading, by catching the attention of a patchwork public made up of pedestrians, regular passers-by, tourists and so on. Through this project I wanted it to be there for the people concerned, but also to grab any passer-by, caught up in their everyday thoughts, and to arouse an emotion, through a kind of freeze-frame, reminding them of the sacrifice these young people made in the name of patriotism; and to do this, you have to use the resources adapted to your time.?Together all of this will make it a memorial worthy of the third millennium.

Verdun, which today is the capital of freedom, was once one of the most horrifying battlefields of the Great War. From February to December 1916, during 300 days and nights French and German soldiers lived here a real "hell".

The town of Verdun, in the Meuse département, is an old Gallic oppidum. Its name, made up of ver or "ford" and dun(o) "height" refers to a place that dominated an old crossing point on the Meuse river. Known as Virodunum, the Gallo-Roman castrum was later fortified, but in vain, since in 450 Attila reduced it to nothing. In Verdun in 843, Charlemagne's grandsons signed the treaty for the division of the Carolingian Empire; the document is considered to be the first written evidence of the French language. Between 870 and 879, the city, in the possession of Lotharingie, was incorporated into the kingdom of France, before falling under the rule of the Othonian Germanic empire in 923. The town was the subject of a contest of power between the lineage of counts, from whence came Godefroy de Bouillon, and the episcopal princes, supported by the Germanic emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. A bloody revolt allowed the middle-classes to escape from under their power in the 13th century. Henri II of France seized the town on the 12th June 1552 during the "Chevauchée d'Austrasie" (Austrasian wars). Charles Quint created the place de Metz on the 18th of October of the same year. Verdun thus became a border town, with the full threat of siege. In order to strengthen their power over the county, Henri and his successor, François the First, granted it special privileges and hastily modernised the medieval ramparts. Raised earth mounds and triangular bastioned flanks protected the walls from artillery fire; structures made of earth inside the square accommodated canons. One of the league towns during the Religious wars, Verdun would not submit until after Henri IV's conversion.
In 1611, Louis XIII renewed the town's protected status. In 1624, Richelieu decided to finish the Verdun citadel. He sent Marshal de Mardillac and engineers from Argencourt, Aleaune and Chastillon. The work lasted ten years: the old bastions were replaced by new ones, spaced at regular intervals around the citadel and linked together by a rampart. Vauban stared modernising the town's defensive system in 1675. He added demi-lunes in front of the medieval fortified enclosure and, between 1680 and 1690, built its bastioned enclosure, applying the principle of defensive flooding. Most importantly, he created a dyke to stop the Pré l'Evêque and closed the three crossing points on the Meuse upstream from Verdun with three bridge locks, the Saint-Amans, Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Airy bridges. In the 18th century, the town concentrated its efforts on controlling the flooding that affected the lower town. The Sainte-Croix Bridge, what is now the Legay Bridge, was rebuilt with wider arches. The Anthouard and Jeanne d'Arc barrages were created in order to end the residents' duty to provide accommodation for the soldiers of the garrison. The royal power no longer looked after the fortifications. Only the "Polygone des mineurs" (now at Thierville, near the Niel barracks) in the north was suitable to be used as an exercise ground for troops. During the revolutionary wars the town, under the command of Beaurepaire, was to capitulate on the 30th August 1792. The Germans thus occupied the town for six weeks before withdrawing on the 14th October when confronted by Kellermann. Under the First Empire, Verdun, at some distance from the front, did not really interest the fortifications commission. It was only after 1815, when France was back in the same situation as in 1789, that the authorities undertook work to reinforce the town along the lines of Vauban's fortifications: the new gate was opened (next to today's Carrefour des Maréchaux), to the North -East, a curtain wall strengthened the demi-lunes on Chaussée and Minimes (now the rue de la Liberté and rue du 8 mai 1945) and three networks of counterscarp galleries were dug under the glacis on the Saint-Victor side (Jules-Ferry school).
During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, troops from Verdun (1,500 garrison soldiers, 2,000 mobile guards and 1,400 men from the national sedentary guard), consolidated by 2,600 survivors of Sedan, under the command of General Guérin de Waldersbach and General Marmier, defended the territory against the 10,000 recruits of the Prince of Saxony. On the 23rd September his army totally surrounded the town, commandeering the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages to commit to investment. The town, besieged and under fire from 140 heavy artillery pieces, surrendered on the 8th November. It would be governed by the prefect of Bethmann-Hollweg until the 13th September 1873. In 1874, the French government made rearming Verdun its top priority. It made General Séré-de-Rivières responsible for creating a defensive network from Verdun to Toul. And so, within forty years, the town became the strongest place in Europe: within a radius of 40 km around the town, the engineer built two rings of forts (19 in total, including 14 in concrete); seven kilometres of parallel underground galleries 20 metres below ground completed the structure (in 1888) with a railway network 185 km long with stone reinforced tracks for horse carriages and pieces of artillery. These alterations to the Meuse countryside were accompanied by social changes. The population and the economy became "militarised". There were soon to be more soldiers than civilians (27,000 compared with 13,300), the army became the largest employer in the area, the quarries and blast furnaces worked almost exclusively for the construction and arming of the forts and the countryside was used as a training ground for troops. Of the two sides who confronted each other for 300 days during the First World War, the Verdun sector had the largest concentration of troops; between February and July 1916 losses under General Nivelle's command totalled 62,000 dead, in other words, 812 deaths a day. The civilian population had fled the town. Only the general staff occupying the underground citadel and the Fire Brigade stationed in the cellars of the Mairie remained in the besieged town of Verdun. The town would be awarded the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre with palms by the President of the Republic, Poincaré, on the 13th September 1916. The people of Verdun emerged battered from the fighting and peace returned. The French and American Red Cross and organisations from the Duchy of Luxembourg brought aid to the returning inhabitants: a canteen was set up in the railway station, a dispensary opened in rue Saint-Sauveur and a municipal cooperative association took up residence in the Town Hall. American troops remained until May 1919. The rebuilt cathedral, a reminder of the historic Verdun and a point of reference for the Poilu (slang term for a foot soldier) and the citadel, a symbol of resistance against the enemy, formed the basis of the city's memorial centre, along with the military cemeteries, the national necropolis at Douaumont and battlegrounds such as the Bois-des-Caures.
The reconstruction of Verdun, approved by two Meuse statesmen, Raymond Poincaré and André Maginot, was scheduled for 1917. The town centre, which was planned further to the north of the town on specially declassified military land, demonstrated the desire to emphasise its industrial nature through the construction of two railway stations and major development of its ports. The state made around 16,000 hectares of land, the principal battlefields, available for redevelopment, some of which would be replanted with trees. The soldiers' graves would be brought together in the national necropolis (Douaumont), or in more modest cemeteries (Glorieux and Bevaux). The tomb of the unknown soldier of Verdun was created in the citadel in 1920. The urban topography now conjures up the battle through the names of new streets and the renaming of others. A war museum was built and the monument to the children of Verdun who died for France was opened in 1928, followed by another one, dedicated to the Victory (inaugurated in 1929), as well as that to the 375 Territorials who died in the fire in the munitions store in 1916 (square d'isly); commemorative plaques have been put up in the citadel and in the barracks etc. When war was declared on the 3rd September 1939, Verdun took up its function as a garrison town once again.
It was used for assembling the troops to be sent into action along the length of the Northern and Eastern border. On the 13th May 1940, the Germans crossed the Meuse at Sedan and took the Maginot line from the rear. Following the capture of the La Ferté fort and the surrounding of Dunkirk, General Hutzinger gave the order to organise defending the Verdun area. The commander in charge of the town, General Dubuisson, had anti-tank obstacles constructed, artillerymen were sent to Séré-de-Rivières' forts and a halting line was set up in the Bois Bourru at the Besonvaux ravine. On the evening of the 15th June 1940, the German army arrived in Verdun. In the cemeteries at Bévaux and Faubourg-Pavé the bodies of its defenders were laid to rest. The occupying army set up headquarters in the place de la Nation (the Freiskommandantur) and in Coq-Hardi hall (the Feldgendarmerie). A prison was opened in rue du Rû, soldiers moved into the barracks (Verdun was used as a training centre for young recruits) and frequented the cafés such as the Café de la paix and Le Continental; the Thierville and Jardin-Fontaine barracks were converted into the Frontstalag. The liberation of the Mause took allied troops a week. The Wehrmacht was against a summary defence: tanks and artillery equipment were positioned, at the Voie Sacré crossroads and the road to Châlons and at a place called Moulin-Brûlé, in the suburb of Glorieux. The city could once again provide eyewitness accounts of war. The Beaurepaire bridge, saved from being blown up by the resistance fighter Fernand Legay, was renamed in his honour. The renamed avenues "de la DB US", "du 8 mai 1945" and "du Général-de-Gaulle" came to enrich the toponymy. Plaques and commemorative monuments sprang up: a plaque in honour of Legay on the bridge of the same name, the posts marking the Route of Liberty, the monument to the Resistance fighters slaughtered on avenue de Metz and the one to the Fusillés (those shot by firing squad) of Thierville.
France's participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) left its mark, most notably in the American logistical buildings. The former Maginot barracks was restored in 1951 and was used for housing troops. At the Jardin-Fontaine (the former manoeuvring area for Thierville behind the Maginot barracks), US troops erected special prefabricated buildings to house the engineers and hold religious services, and other public facilities (gymnasia, car parks, garages etc.). Soldiers' tombs can still be seen in the public cemetery. The 50 hectares on the banks of the Etang Bleu were converted into depots and workshops and some of this equipment would be used in the making of the film "The Longest day". The "Chicago" zone, developed in 1953, first contained a laundry and later a bakery. The Fort du Rozelier was converted into a NATO munitions depot intended to receive atomic weapons. In 1958 a hospital was built on the former Faubourg-Pavé aerodrome in the Désandrouins sector. The Gribauval barracks became a place for accommodating troops. On the 22nd September 1984, the 70th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, sealed the friendship between the two nations by mounting a plaque in memory of all servicemen at the German necropolis in Consenvoye. Three years later The United Nations (UN) awarded the Meuse city the statute of World capital of Peace, freedom and the rights of Man.
Some historic sites to visit in Verdun The underground citadel The underground citadel Visit the underground galleries of the citadel on board of a small train and discover the every day life of the "poilus" during the First World War. Open an entire year Tariffs : Adults : 6€ Children : 2,5€ Underground citadel Avenue du 5ème RAP 55000 VERDUN Tel : 03 29 86 14 18 The Douaumont ossuary The initiative to build an ossuary in Douaumont, comes from the bishop of Verdun, His Eminence Ginisty. Situated in the heart of the battlefield, this ossuary measuring 137meters in length, is dominated by an 46 meters high tower and was built between 1920 and 1932 thanks to a contribution launched in 1919. It shelters human remains of 130 000 soldiers. In front of this monument the national necropolis, inaugurated on 1929, contains tombs of 15 000 combatants. Open every day from March to November Tariffs : Adults : 3,50€ Children : 2€ Phone : 03 29 84 54 81 The Douaumont fort Interior visit on two gallery levels and casemates. Open every day Tariffs : Adults : 3€ Children : 1,50 € Phone : 03 29 84 41 91 The Verdun memorial Located in Fleury-devant-Douaumont, on the site of the old village station, the Verdun memorial, also known as the memorial of freedom, was built in the sixties, thanks to the initiative of the National Committee for the Memory of Verdun (Comité National du Souvenir de Verdun CNSB) chaired at that time by the writer Maurice Genevoix. The official opening took place in 1967. The museum has a strong historical und pedagogical vocation. Open every day from February to December Tariffs : Adults : 5€ Children : 2,50 € Phone : 03 29 84 35 34 Office de Tourisme de Verdun Avenue du Général Mangin 55100 Verdun E-mail :contact@tourisme-verdun.fr Tél : 03 29 84 55 55 Fax : 03 29 84 85 80

The ten centuries of history of this fortress, the first constructions of which date from 1034, present developments made in defences on a 2-hectare site: the solid towers of the Middle Ages, the bastions from Vauban's era and the modern fort built in front of the château by Joffre in 1879.

Three ditches with drawbridges protect a world of prisons, from the dungeon which housed the legendary Berthe de Joux to the cells where Mirabeu, Kleist and Toussaint Louverture were confined.

A particularly memorable feature of the site is a large well, a vertiginous cylinder dug out of the rock.

A rich museum of weapons from the 18th and 19th centuries, which holds several particularly rare pieces, is a perfect complement to the visit.

In addition to the various exhibitions, visitors will see a scale model of the château measuring 3.64m by 1.76m complete with audio commentary.

Visits, talks, evening events and the Nuits de Joux festival in July-August are organised.

Joux Château

25300 La Cluse-et-Mijoux

Tel: +33 (0)3 81 69 47 95

e-mail: ccl-chateaudejoux@orange.fr

Official Joux Château website

L’esprit de Saint-Cyr

Situé au cœur des écoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, creuset unique de formation des officiers de l’armée de terre, le musée du Souvenir retrace les évènements majeurs qui ont construit la France à travers les destins croisés des officiers qui l’ont servie. Hommes de conviction et de décision, beaucoup d’entre eux ont incarné des valeurs telles que le courage, la bravoure, le panache, l’exemplarité, la loyauté, le sens du service, du devoir et de l’honneur, l’amour de notre Patrie... Certains ont par leur seule présence pesé sur l’issue de batailles décisives, d’autres ont fait des choix condamnés par l’Histoire, d’autres encore ont rétabli l’honneur de la France et nombreux sont ceux qui ont fait le sacrifice de leur vie dans l’accomplissement de leur mission.

Un lieu de mémoire unique

S’ouvrant sur la Cour Rivoli, place d’honneur où se déroulent les cérémonies de Tradition qui rythment la scolarité des élèves officiers, le musée du Souvenir est un lieu d’enracinement et d’identité où ils se retrouvent et se ressourcent. Mais il est également un lieu de mémoire et d’histoire ouvert au grand public, un endroit privilégié d’éducation à la citoyenneté ainsi qu’un espace de partage et d’échange entre les Français et leur armée où se tisse l’indispensable lien armées-Nation.
Le visiteur est invité à parcourir un vaste mémorial, qui rappelle le sacrifice des officiers de toutes origines tombés au champ d’honneur, avant de découvrir les riches collections du musée. Présentées de façon chronologique, elles illustrent la lente maturation qui a conduit à la création d’écoles dédiées à la formation des officiers et met en exergue les grands personnages et les figures de légende qu’elles ont formés.

Un patrimoine inestimable ouvert à tous

En un siècle d’existence, les collections du Musée du Souvenir se sont enrichies de plusieurs milliers d’objets : Tableaux, bronzes, armes, uniformes, emblèmes, trophées et souvenirs émouvants évoquant un destin exceptionnel, héroïque ou tragique se répondent et plongent le visiteur dans une atmosphère unique. Par leur intérêt esthétique, leur pouvoir d’évocation historique ou par la simple « charge émotionnelle » dont ils sont porteurs, ces objets nous touchent, nous interpellent et nous instruisent.
 

Sources : ©Musée du Souvenir des écoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan

L’association Jubilee, créée en 1989 pour pérenniser le devoir de mémoire de cet évènement dramatique, présente dans l’ancien théâtre municipal de Dieppe, des documents, objets, uniformes ainsi qu’une vidéo de témoignages et d’images d’époque.

C’est en 2002 que la Ville de Dieppe a choisi notre Association du nom de code de l’Operation Jubilee pour en faire un lieu de mémoire en hommage à ces jeunes soldats canadiens qui ont sacrifié leur vie pour NOTRE Liberté.

C’est dans cet écrin que nous, les bénévoles de l’association Jubilee, les gardons vivants, à notre manière par l’enseignement et la transmission de la mémoire.

Ainsi, nous ne les oublierons pas.

Emm Church is the Parish church of Metzeral-Sondernach, an ancient place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin and a Memorial dedicated to soldiers of World War One (Haut-Rhin) who fell in the Vosges, notably at the Battle of Metzeral in June 1915.

Historical overview

The current Emm church and memorial is built on the site of a 15th-century chapel, which was destroyed during the Battle of Metzeral. It was built by Abbot Martin BÉHÉ(1887-1963).

From 1922 to 1923, a committee dedicated to the "Memory of Alsace" was formed, under the patronage of Mgr RUCH, Bishop of Strasbourg and General de POUYDRAGUIN, former major of the 47th division and former military governor of Strasbourg, members of which came from all over France. Charity sales were organised in France's large cities (Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux) and abroad (notably in Switzerland).

The building was consecrated on 4 October 1931 and the bells were consecrated on 3 July 1932. Both ceremonies took place in the presence of Mgr RUCH, General de POUYDRAGUIN, Madame la Général SERRET and many other well-known people.

Description

The main material is pink sandstone from the Vosges, from Rauscher d'Adamswiller quarries; this is the same material used for Strasbourg cathedral. A dedication in capital letters stands out on the harmonious façade: "A nos vaillants soldats, l'Alsace reconnaissante" (To our brave soldiers, to whom Alsace is grateful).
The bell tower is inspired by the tower on the old chapel of Fourvière, in memory of a charity sale in 1926 and has four listed bells. Along the nave, in the arcades which are 1.80 m high, there are plaques in yellow marble from Sienna on which the names of soldiers who fell in the Vosges are engraved. One window in particular recalls the sanctuary's vocation: above the side chapel, the stained-glass window known as the "Souvenir" window shows a soldier dying in the arms of a chaplain, to whom an angel brings the crown of the chosen.
A memorial mass is celebrated on the Sunday before 11 November with the participation of war veterans and their standard-bearer.

Emm Church

Colline de l'Emm (rue de l'Emm) 68380 METZERAL - SONDERNACH

Les Amis de l'Emm

18 rue du Hohneck 68380 METZERAL