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Memorial and museum of the Pommiès Free Corps

(À gauche) Le Mémorial National du CFP-49e RI. Source : ©maquisardsdefrance.jeun.fr - (À droite) Le périple du Corps Franc Pommiès. Source : ©musee-franc-pommiès.com

This memorial is dedicated to the Pommiès Free Corps - Second World war.

This memorial is dedicated to the Pommiès Free Corps (Corps Franc Pommiès or CFP), a prestigious detachment of the Résistance who, by sabotaging the Hispano-Suiza (Alstom) factory, spared the population the cruel consequences of aerial bombardment during the Second World War.

This army, organised by General André Pommiès turned the Magnoac region into a hard nucleus of the French Résistance. Born in 1904 in Bordeaux, Lieutenant Colonel Pommiès had trained in the information services, retaining his military contacts and a sense of organisation.

In 1940, Pommiès refused to accept the defeat. He was given the task of secretly mobilising an army in the High and Low Pyrenees, the Landes and the Gers regions.

The Free Corps was very actively involved in the liberation of the country. In fact, the Pommiès Free Corps was one of the main constituents of the Army Résistance Organisation (Organisation de Résistance de l'Armée or "ORA") in the southern zone.

 

On the very day the Army was disbanded, 17 November 1942, Captain André Pommiès decided to create a Free Corps on the territory of the 17th and 18th military divisions (the south west). In each département, an officer was appointed to set up a clandestine unit. For two years, "maquisards" (members of the Résistance) from the Free Corps were used in transporting weapons and equipment, parachute drops and sabotage of the principal means of transport and energy production used by the occupying forces in the region. At the end of 1943, the southern zone was 30,000 strong and the northern zone 15,000.

 

Alerted by messages from the BBC, on 6 June 1944 Pommiès called on all his personnel (12,000 men) to use guerrilla tactics and intensify their destructive actions. After the Allied landings in Provence on 15 August 1944, battles for liberation succeeded guerrilla warfare. The Pommiès Free Corps took Auch, Pau and Tarbes. He was then given the mission of preventing members of the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo and collaborators from crossing to Spain. Whilst one section of the forces of the Pommiès Free Corps was maintained in the Pyrenees to guard the border, the other sections headed to the northeast. After crossing France, they met up with the army of General de Lattre de Tassigny at Autun and took part in the fighting for the liberation of the town between 7 and 9 September 1944.

 

On 24 September, fighters from the Pommiès Free Corps were incorporated into the body of the 1st Army. Now having become regular soldiers, they took part in the Vosges campaign and then that of the Alsace, most famously taking the strategic heights of le Drumont and le Gommkopf. In February 1945, the Pommiès Free Corps became the 49th Infantry Regiment (49e Régiment d'Infanterie or 49e RI), a former regiment of Bayonne with a glorious past, adopting its flag with a black star. On 1 April, the regiment arrived in Germany and advanced towards its final objective, Stuttgart, which it took on 21 April 1945. From its foundation up until the Liberation, the C.F.P was to carry out 900 military operations. The human cost was particularly heavy: 387 killed and 156 deported.
On 6 June, former members of the network came to join in private prayer during an anniversary ceremony. In June 2003 a museum area was opened in the café "Bouges" in the centre of Castelnau-Magnoac, which served as a letter drop for the maquis (Resistance fighters).
 

 

Memorial and museum of the Pommiès Free Corps

Esplanade Village 65230 Castelnau-Magnoac

Tel: + 33 (0) 5 62 99 81 41

 

 

Site du musée

 

 

 

Tourist Information Office

Maison du Magnoac 65230 Cizos

Tel. + 33 (0) 5.62.39.86.61

Fax: + 33 (0) 5.62.39.81.60

 

Tourist Office

3, Cours Gambetta 65000 Tarbes

Tel.: + 33 (0) 5.62.51.30.31

Fax: + 33 (0) 5.62.44.17.63

E-mail: accueil@tarbes.com

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Practical information

Address

Esplanade Village 65230
Castelnau-Magnoac
05 62 99 81 41 05 62 39 80 62

Weekly opening hours

Mardi, mercredi, jeudi: 9h - 20h Vendredi: 9h - 20h Samedi: 8h - 18h Dimanche: 10h - 15h

Fermetures annuelles

Fermé le Lundi

Seyre

Barn where the children lived. Source: www.couleur-lauragais.fr - Author: Jean Odol

 

This town near Nailloux preserves the memory of some one hundred German Jewish children who stayed here.

 

The town of Seyre near Nailloux preserves the memory of some one hundred German Jewish children who stayed here. They stayed from the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1941 and left lively drawings on the walls of the Château’s outbuildings.

 

Having become orphans after Kristallnacht and the wave of anti-Semitic actions that swept over Nazi Germany, many German Jewish children sought refuge in England, Belgium and France, where they were taken care of by charitable organisations.

Driven out of Belgium by the Wehrmacht’s offensive of May 1940, one hundred of them between the ages of 3 and 15 travelled for six days in cattle cars to Villefranche de Lauragais and then Seyre (10 km south of Villefranche de Lauragais and 4 km from Nailloux).


Upon their arrival, the mayor of Seyre and the owner of the Château and its outbuildings, Mr Capèle, took charge of them; at the time the latter held a high position in the French Red Cross.

The refugees’ living conditions were very modest for the eighty-five people (children and their caregivers): two rooms, a kitchen and toilets in the courtyard, no water and no heating.

Finding supplies was the main problem. The Swiss Red Cross, with which Mr Capel d'Hautpoul had contacts, sent sugar and powdered milk, but most of the food had to be found on site, which was very difficult. The basic foodstuff was boiled maize, called milla. The harsh winter of 1940-1941 led the Swiss Red Cross to find more comfortable lodgings for them.

The Château de La Hille in Ariège was chosen. On the walls of the village and the building, which is still called “the orphanage” to this day, the children left several colour drawings, such a the “Little Pigs”, a cat with a violin, the church and a watermill.


 


Town Hall

31560 Seyre

Tel.: +33 (0)5.62.71.26.25

 

 

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Address

31560
Seyre
05 62 71 26 25

Prices

Visit free of charge

Weekly opening hours

Free access

Champigny Memorial

Ossuaire - Monument 1870. © Didier Rullier

People often called Champigny sur Marne Champigny la Bataille between 1870 et 1918, as it had seen the fiercest battle of the siege of Paris.

Click here to tour Champigny Crypt online. Champigny-sur-Marne was often called Champigny-la-Bataille between 1870-1871 and 1914-1918, in reference to the fiercest battle of the Siege of Paris, which unfurled from 30 November to 2 December 1870.

The victims were given a decent and final funeral in community cemeteries around Champigny once peace was restored. Seine departmental authorities also decided to build a memorial to the memory of the unknown French and German soldiers that had died during that battle, and the French Government built a crypt around it. The several thousand soldiers that had fought each other outside, in other words, rest side by side within. Alfred Rivière, an architect, designed this memorial and supervised the building work.
This strikingly stark monument stands on a 925.75 sq m plot of land. A Lorraine-stone stele with a square base stands 5.75 metres high. A low pyramid stands on four heads, with leaves on the corner encircling the base with a crown. There is a shield protecting a palm leaf on the side facing the street. Bas-relief wreaths adorn the sides and back. There is one stark and concise inscription: Monument élevé par l'Etat à la mémoire des soldats morts pendant le siège de Paris bataille de Champigny (This monument was erected by the State to the memory of the soldiers that lay down their lives during the Siege of Paris, Battle of Champigny). The crypt is a vast rectangular gallery (2.60 metres wide) around the monument. The base at the back runs alongside the street and measures 30.5 metres. The widthways galleries that intersect it are 19.5 metres long each. These underground corridors nestle 31 vaults. Through a wrought-iron gate in the middle, you can see the stone altar of a small oratory. Belgian-granite plaque bear the names and numbers of the corps that took part.
Outside, a heavy iron fence embedded in stone pillars skirts the road and encloses the memorial. Two doors open into the galleries. Le talus of the platform covering the crypt is coated in stone along the galleries. It features two granite staircases which originally led to the garden, which has since become a terrace over the building and around the stele.
The ossuary's front wall has a stone plaque bearing the following inscription in French and German: Des combattants français et allemands inconnus tombés au cours de la bataille de Champigny-sur-Marne pendant le siège de Paris 1870-1871 reposent en cet ossuaire (French and German soldiers fallen during the battle of Champigny during the 1870-1871 siege of Paris rest in this ossuary).
Four period cannons stand on the four corners of the terrace. There are two similar cannons on either side of the front courtyard. There are three deep sloped and shouldered trenches around the building, adjoining the fences. The upper left-hand side has been turned into a grass garden terrace with trees, and there is a retaining wall by the road.
This building dates back to 1873. The crypt was built at a later stage and inaugurated on 2 December 1878. The governments of France and the Federal Republic of Germany agreed to fund necessary restoration work in 1968-1969 to keep alive the memory of their dead.
Champigny Crypt Memorial (Monument commémoratif de la crypte de Champigny) 32 Rue du Monument 94500 Champigny sur Marne

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Practical information

Address

32 rue du monument 94500
Champigny-sur-Marne

Weekly opening hours

Accessibilité toute l'année

National Resistance Museum

The Musée de la Résistance Nationale has one of the most important collections on the French Resistance in the Second World War. 

Website     Facebook
Learning resources  Educ@def

For enquiries, please call +33 (0)1 49 83 90 90 or email: reservation@musee-resistance.com

The Espace Aimé Césaire, a new exhibition space open to the public (click here for information)

The Musée de la Résistance Nationale (MRN) is a collective whose purpose is to cater for one essential need: to pass on the history and memory of the Resistance.

The museum space and learning area

This building, with 1 000 m2 of exhibition space on three floors and a 120-seat auditorium, houses the new museum and learning areas, as well as the temporary exhibitions of the new MRN.
The building’s ideal location in the centre of Champigny-sur-Marne makes the MRN more accessible by public transport and closer to its audience.
With its rich collection, the new permanent exhibition presents all the aspects and key issues of the history and remembrance of the Resistance. A cultural programme adds to the content on offer to visitors and individuals keen to gain a better understanding of modern-day issues in the light of that history.
The Espace Aimé Césaire also offers a scientific programme, making the latest advances in research more accessible.

Espace Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac: the research and conservation centre 

The continuing expansion of the collection since 1965 (approximately 250 000 items in 1985; nearly one million today) meant that new storage areas had to be provided for in the new museum buildings.
Therefore, the old site, on Avenue Marx-Dormoy, became a conservation and consultation centre for the collections, as well as the head office of the project’s two mother organisations.
Altogether, the MRN’s collection, which since November 2000 has been dependent on an agreement with the National Archives, was constituted by more than 5 000 donations. It offers an exceptional insight into the history of the French Resistance, its remembrance and the historical works it has inspired. Its scale and diversity present the stories of thousands of Resistance members: men and women; French citizens, immigrants and foreigners; famous and anonymous.

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Practical information

Address

40 quai Victor Hugo 94500
Champigny-sur-Marne
+33 (0)1 49 83 90 90

Prices

https://www.musee-resistance.com/votre-visite/tarifs-et-reservations/

Weekly opening hours

Tuesday to Friday: 1.30 pm to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday: 11 am to 7 pm

The Fort at Champigny-sur-Marne

Le fort de Champigny-sur-Marne. Source : http://www.tourisme-valdemarne.com/

Built after the war of 1870, the fort is part of the first defensive belt of Paris. It is arranged like a "Séré de Rivières" type fort.

Built after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the Fort at Champigny-sur-Marne was intended for the protection of the capital. It forms part of the first defensive network designed by Séré de Rivières. It was built between 1878 and 1880 and has a surface area of 4 hectares. Its position was determined by lessons learned from the war: in December 1870 the Prussians had established two batteries just to the west of this site. Listed as of secondary importance by the legislation of 1874, its role was to block the railway line towards Troyes and to occupy the position of the Prussian batteries of 1870.

This fort with a central section is made up of a front, two flanks and a gorge. The trench, which is edged by a counterscarp and a semi-detached scarp, is separated by two caponiers, a basic one and one with a gorge. The ridge of the rampart is intersected by 13 cross sections, 6 of which have shelters. One of the northern cross sections houses the powder magazine (capacity of 80 tonnes). A passage underneath one of the southern cross sections was built in such a way as to serve as a casemate against indirect fire. The trench is crossed by a wooden bridge, but the entrance hall can be closed off by a retractable bridge and an armour-plated door.
The barracks enclose a cobbled courtyard. Half of it was housed on the ground floor, with men and sub-officers on the first floor, making a total capacity of 388 men, in addition to a cistern and various magazines. The guardhouse at the entrance is attached to the western part of the barracks, where officers were housed. The vaults are built of rough stone. The floors between levels are in brick. The 1911 project allowed 4300 Euros for modernisation works. Three concrete shelters on the ramparts, two machine-gun turrets and observation points were to be established. In 1914, the fort held no more than 10 cannons on the ramparts and 10 in the caponiers.
During the First World War its batteries, armed with ten 12 to 15 cm weapons, fired across the Avron plateau. The quarries were used to shelter troops, provisions and an ambulance. From 1939 to 1940 the fort was occupied by anti-aircraft defence units. There was a fire in the barracks in July 1944. The fort was declassified in 1965 and handed over to the land administration department in 1974. It was registered by ministerial decree on the 16th May 1979 on the Secondary List of Historical Monuments. Since 1984, it has been undergoing restoration.
Fort at Champigny-sur-Marne 140 bis, rue Aristide-Briand 94430 Chennevières-sur-Marne Tel.: 01.45.94.74.74 e-mail: communication@ville-chennevières.fr Bus stop: "Fort de Champigny" Guided tours Saturdays and Sundays 3 pm to 5 pm Free entry

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Practical information

Address

140 bis, rue Aristide-Briand 94430
Chennevières-sur-Marne
Tél.: 01.45.94.74.74

Weekly opening hours

Le fort se visite lors des journées du patrimoine uniquement

Paul Voivenel Museum

Monument to the Dead in Capoulet-et-Junac by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. © GNU Free Documentation License

A museum dedicated to Dr Paul Voivenel (1880-1975), a combat gas specialist during the First World War. Situated in Capoulet-Jurac, on the first and second floors of the former home of this doctor who was the first person to identify the syndrome of "war psychoneurosis" among soldiers.

The museum is a collection of souvenirs from a life devoted to medicine, literature and rugby.

While he was studying medicine, in 1899, he became passionate about a sport known as barette, which we now know as rugby.

His love for this sport led to him founding the Pyérénes League and to pen, under the moniker ‘La Sélouze’, a number of columns in the La Dépêche du Midi and the Le Midi Olympique regional newspapers.

He commissioned the Monument to Sport in Toulouse in homage to the victims of war.

Le conflit terminé, il rassemble ses notes dans "Avec la 67ème Division de réserve", grand prix de l'Académie Française.

Auteur de cinquante et un ouvrages, cet humaniste s'est consacré à la neuro-psychiatrie. 

Chef de clinique à Toulouse en 1914, il exerce sur le front en tant que responsable d'une ambulance de campagne.

Son action dans le domaine littéraire le conduit à tenir des rubriques dans le Mercure de France, le Figaro etc.

Il se lie d'amitié avec Paul Léautaud, Paul Valéry, François Mauriac, Francis Carcot, Marie de Saint Exupéry, Camille Mauclair notamment. 

 

When the war was over, he compiled his notes in the four-volume Avec la 67ème Division de réserve, which won the Grand Prix from the Académie Française.

An author of some 51 works, this humanist dedicated his career to neuropsychiatry.

A clinic manager in Toulouse in 1914, he worked on the front as a manager of a field hospital.

His literary experience saw him write columns in the Mercure de France, Le Figaro and other newspapers.

He forged friendships with writer and theatre critic Paul Léautaud, poet and philosopher Paul Valéry, writer François Mauriac, writer and journalist Francis Carcot, Marie de Saint Exupéry and poet and novelist Camille Mauclair. 


 

The museum has on display a collection of original documents, manuscripts, photographs, watercolours, sculptures and souvenirs of the Great War, testaments to the life of a man committed to many causes.


 


 

Paul Voivenel Museum

09400 Capoulet-et-Junac

Tel: +33 (0)5 61 05 12 57 / 67 79

Email: capoulet.junac@wanadoo.fr


 


 

Source: MINDEF/SGA/DMPA

 

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Practical information

Address

9400
Capoulet-et-Junac
05 61 05 12 57

Weekly opening hours

Opening times: From 15 July to 15 August: 10.30 am to 12.00 pm and 2.30-6.00 pm Low season: by appointment only.

Alsace Moselle Memorial, Schirmeck

Mémorial de l'Alsace-Moselle (Bas-Rhin). Source : GNU Free Documentation License.

The Alsace Moselle Memorial tells the story of a region that saw its borders shift in step with successive wars between Germany and France, and the story of the foundations of European construction.

This vast building behind a glass front is nestled in greenery and overlooks the valley below. It towers skyward a stone's throw from Schirmeck. And it casts light on one of history's rambling episodes, and on the suffering and self-sacrifice that episode brought upon thousands of men, women and children. The amazing architecture and setting convey the oft-misconstrued story of an area that jolted from one country to another as the border it skirts shifted. The 3000 sq m museum casts light on this hazy period between 1870 and the aftermath of WWII, which weighs upon this region's identity. And, as efforts to reconcile France and Germany were born from efforts to root peace across Europe, this memorial also showcases the foundations of European construction.

When you leave the glass-walled hall, you get the feeling you are descending into history's depths. At the foot of the sombre steps, you will find a staggering, cathedral-sized room. The 12-metre-high walls on either side bear 148 portraits of men and women from Alsace and Moselle, spanning every generation and every walk of life. They all have names. It might be someone's piercing gaze, engaging hairdo or original dress, but something will no doubt catch your eye. But this room, first and foremost, will put a face on textbook history. The stories this memorial tells, in other words, are not about statistics and remote people in a remote land. They are about children, grandparents, young women. About the children, grandparents and young women in that room. They will speak to you over the audio guide. They speak French, German and Alsatian. They tell you what happened over those 70 dissonant years. They tell you their story.
Hitler's shuddering voice rings out as you step into a rebuilt village station. Posters luring you to tourist destinations hang alongside evacuation orders. You take a seat in a train packed with luggage and personal belongings. A film on the wagon wall shows how 430,000 of Alsace's and Moselle's people were transferred to Southwest France. On the opposite wall, a corridor leads to a fort on the Maginot Line. The white walls strewn with electric wires, floor tracks, dormitories and armoured doors explain are chilling. The instructions aimed at drafted soldiers, speech excerpts and images from the front exude this peculiar war's atmosphere.
After the documents stating the terms of the occupation and de-facto annexation under the Third Reich, you will walk into a circling corridor displaying street name boards. The first ones are in French first, the last ones in German. The flags parading overhead surreptitiously transmute from France's red, white and blue to swastikas.
Then you reach a forward-tilting typically Germanic building. The only way forward is through this oppressive, half-prison, half-bureaucratic universe. Desks on either side show the population brought to heel and enlisted by force. Struthof Camp bodes ill at a distance.
The barbed wire, army camps, pale lights and watchtowers in the next room will give you a glimpse of what concentration camps felt like. Photos, papers and audiovisual documents in this bleak universe also speak of the resistance and of escaping into France.
You walk across this vast room on a 3.5-metre-high footbridge. The Vosges forest pines underfoot are a reminder that people crossing the border over the neighbouring heights were doing so illicitly. The scenery is scarred by war. Bombs have disfigured the land. Everything is littered with disfigured bicycles and car wrecks, strewn petrol drums, and such like debris. Bombers tear through the sky. A house crumbles. And images on the wall speak of the German retreat and the Landings. Liberation nears.
The next room is much more soothing. The floor is even. Towering columns mirror the return of justice and truth. This room tells the story of the Oradour massacre trials in Bordeaux. The red walls seem lined with drawers holding the hundreds of files under review. A well of images shows the process and purge.
The room before last is white and bathed in light. It is a breath of fresh air. Lit blocks show French- German reconciliation and European construction. This soothing and cheerful room leads to a projection room screening a film by Alain Jérôme. Then, you walk back into the vast transparent hall and esplanade, whence you can look out onto stunning views over the Vosges massif. And, across the valley, see Struthof camp and the European Centre on Resistance and Deportation (Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté).
Opening hours The Alsace Moselle Memorial is open from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm in winter and from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm in summer. Tickets are on sale until one hour before closing time. Admission Full fare: €10 Reduced fare: €8 Families (two adults and children): €23 Tours with audio guides Disabled-visitor access Shop Bar / Tearoom Educational Office - Workshops The Educational Office caters for school groups (with an educational director and assigned professor).

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Practical information

Address

Lieu dit Chauffour 67130
Schirmeck

Prices

Plein tarif: 10 € Tarif réduit: 8 € Pass famille: 23 €

Weekly opening hours

Ouvert toute l'année du mardi au dimanche, de 10h à 18h30

Fermetures annuelles

Fermé le lundi, le 1e mai, le 26 décembre et le mois de janvier

The submarine base of Lorient

The submarine base of Lorient; Source ECPAD

Stretched out over a surface of 26 hectares, southwards from the city of Lorient, the ancient submarine base Kéroman is established in the middle of the roadstead, in front of the Port-Louis citadel and the Island of Saint-Michel...

Stretched out over a surface of 26 hectares, southwards from the city of Lorient, the ancient submarine base Kéroman is established in the middle of the roadstead, in front of the Port-Luois citadel and the Island of Saint-Michel

From the summer of 1940 and the German victory in the west, the Kriegesmarine fits out bases in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The Lorient arsenal is chosen by Admiral Karl Dönitz to accommodate one of the five huge bases installed on the French coasts of the Atlantic to protect the U-Boote. From June 21st 1940, the first day the city was occupied, work commenced to free the docks, in order to allow the submarines to enter the Lorient port on July 7th. In spite of the reinforcement of the site from the Kriegesmarine, the German headquarter quickly realised, that these installations are not suitable enough for the conduct of the Atlantic war and thus decides to build a concrete unit constituting a real underwater base, more suited to resist the violence of the allied shelling. Under fire from the planes of the Royal Air Force, 15 000 workers build between February 1941 and January 1943 three huge concreted blocks, with amazing dimensions: the flank measures 130m and 18.5 m high for the blocks Kéroman I (KI) znd Kéroman II (K II), with roofs measuring 3.5 m thickness; the Kéroman III (KIII) block is 170m long, 122 m large and has a roof thickness of 7,5,m. The new Kéroman underwater base can resist to the classic shells, then the most powerful of that period, and is able to shelter more the 25 submarines thanks to installations exposed directly to the sea. It has the capacity to hoist the most impressive submarines, in protected cells thanks to a slipway. The presence of this base considered indestructible is the reason that Lorient suffered massive bombardments from the allies' aviation, which transformed the city into a vast field of ruins. Since the concrete protection was never really damaged during the war, the French national navy has used the Kéroman site since 1945. They installed a fleet of submarines, an annexation of the Lorient arsenal (DCN), as well as a zone, where the submariners can live.
July 6th 1946 the Kéroman bases were baptised with this name by Jacques Stosskopf, section chief of the new constructions in the Lorient arsenal. He will later on be deported and executed by the Nazis, accusing him to have transmitted precious information about the strategic activity of the base to the resistance network, during the entire occupation period. In 1995, the ministry of defence announces, in the framework of its reorganization plan, the abandonment of the site that will become effective in February 1997, with the departure from Kéroman of the last submarine "La Sirène".
The visit of the Kéromann III block Now days only Kéroman III block is open to the public to visit. The other sectors of the base are inactive or occupied by factories. A guided path of approximately an hour and a half gives to the visitor the chance to discover the greatest buildings built in Lorient, measuring 24000 m2 . They can also climb the roof constituting a splendid view-point dominating the roadstead of Lorient and its harbours. In the south east of the base, the block contains seven cells, who's most important is 103 m long and 22,5 m large and offers two sites. In 1944 its construction remained unfinished, since the block was under continuous bombardment during the whole time of its construction. Individuals can visit the site during the school holidays, and groups may visit the site during the whole year on reservation. The opening dates are available at the tourist office of Lorient.
Flanking the walls of the base, the Davis Tower was built in 1942 for the submarines training. In 1953 the national navy restores it back into service. From 1999 it resurfaces thanks to a museographic space dedicated to the immersed inheritance of Lorient. Equipped with a decompression chamber simulating the living conditions of the crews, the museum gives to the visitor the chance to plunge back into the past and discover the wrecks of this region. Open every Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. During July and August, open every day from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Count approximately an hour of visit.
Recently purchaser of this site, having at its disposal more than 1200 m of cost line, the community of agglomeration of Lorrient, controls a conversion project of the base centred on the major topic: "The man and the sea during the XXI century". The installation of several companies in the old concrete blocks, that sheltered the submarines, contributed to the development of a strong activity in the water sports sector. In the long term, the opening of a company-village, based on the maritime, advanced technology industry is envisaged. By the year 2005 the inauguration of the Tabarly Academy will take place. This area pays tribute to the memory of the missing sailors, with a media library, by organising exhibitions and by giving information on the topics of the oceanic races. The opening to the public of the "Flora" submarine, that was in service from 1964 until its disarmament in 1989 in Kéroman is forecasted. A first phase of works is considered, in order to repair the submarine, the boat ramp which supports it and the transporter bridge between the K I block and the K II block. After the renovation is completed, footbridges will make it possible to reach a museographic space, dedicated to the submarine base of Kéroman and exhibiting the every day life on board of the submarines.
Base Submarine Peninsula Keroman 56100 Lorient Phone: 02 97 02 23 29 Rate : Full price: 6 €, reduced 3 €, free for children under 12 years Hours : [list] Outside school holidays: Every Sunday at 15 pm [list] School holidays: daily at 15 am on Saturday. [list] Closed December 25 and 31 and the entire month of January Tourist office of Lorient email :contact@lorient-tourisme.com

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Practical information

Address

rue roland morillot 56100
Lorient
02 97 02 23 29

Prices

Plein tarif : 6 € Tarif réduit: 3 € Gratuit : Enfant (- de 12 ans)

Weekly opening hours

Hors vacances scolaires: chaque dimanche à 15 h Vacances scolaires toutes zones: tous les jours à 15 h dès le samedi

Fermetures annuelles

Les 25 et 31 décembre et tout le mois de janvier

Aulus-les-Bains

Le monument de la Shoah. ©DDM, archives.

From March 1941 to December 1942, 686 nationals (men, women and children) from Central Europe were give compulsory orders of residence to live on farms, in sheds and in unoccupied hotels as they were considered foreigners of “Jewish race” – in reality only 375 of them of Jewish denomination.

Some of them managed to cross the border into Spain and Andorra; the others were taken and transferred to Camp du Vernet on the night of 26 August 1942. During the first roundup, around 200 people were arrested and interned before being transported to Auschwitz.

 

A second roundup took place between 9 and 11 January 1943: 266 Jews were arrested. On the bend in La croix du Ruisseau, a stele pays tribute to the 640 men, women and children sent to live in Aulus-les-Bains in 1942 and those arrested during the two roundups.

Quelques lieux remarquables

  • La maison du docteur Faure, médecin thermal, père d'Edgar Faure (1908-1988), écrivain et homme politique
  • Le monument aux morts. On y lit beaucoup de noms identiques avec à côté leur sobriquet correspondant le plus souvent au nom de la maison où ils vivaient 
  • L'Office du Tourisme. Sur l'ancien emplacement de l'hôtel du Midi construit en 1866, le Grand hôtel, qui a fonctionné jusqu'en 1939, puis a été réquisitionné pendant la guerre. Après la Libération, en raison de son état de délabrement, il n'est plus utilisé que comme salle de café et de réunions, avant d'être démoli dans les années quatre-vingt-dix
  • L'Hôtel Majestic. Lorsque, le 11 novembre 1942, l'armée allemande a envahi la zone Sud, elle a établi son cantonnement à l'Hôtel Majestic.

01 - Les Neufs Fonts

02 - Carrière des Frouns

03 - Oratoire St Vincent

04 - Salle d'animation du Camping ancienne scierie

05 - Emplacement de l'ancien Casino

06 - Colonie de la Ville de Toulouse anciens Hôtels du Parc

07 - Ancienne usine à Gaz

08 - Maison du Dr Faure

09 - Les Bemèdes ancienne maison Crouzat

10 - Hôtel de France

11 - Hôtel Georges

12 - Grand Hôtel

13 - Allée des Bains

14 - Parc Thermal

16 - Hôtel Beauséjour

17 - Hôtel Majestic

18 - Villa les Bains ancien Hôtel des Bains

19 - Hôtel La Terrasse

20 - Monument aux Morts

21 - Hôtel Les Oussaillès ancienne Maison Charrue

22 - Gîte d'Etape ancien Presbytère

23 - Eglise d'Aulus

25 - Oratoire St Bernard de Menton

26 - La Croix du Ruisseau

27 - Le Moulin

28 - Office de Tourisme emplacement Hôtel du Midi

29 - Aulus La Trappe

 


Mairie d'Aulus-les-Bains

Place de la Mairie 09410 Aulus-les-Bains

Tél. : 05 61 96 00 87

 

Bureau d'Aulus-les-Bains

09410 Aulus-les-Bains

Tél. : 05 61 96 00 01

 

Antenne de l'Office de tourisme de Haut-Couserans

09140 Aulus-les-Bains

tél. 05.61.96.02.22

fax : 05.61.96.01.79

e-mail : aulus-les-bains@worldonline.fr

 

 

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Practical information

Address

9410
Aulus-les-Bains
05 61 96 00 87

Weekly opening hours

Accès libre

Museum of the Resistance, Deportation and the Second World War

Vitrine du Musée de la résistance. Source : http://maquisardsdefrance.jeun.fr/

The Joseph Lhoménède Museum in Frugières-le-Pin presents the history of the resistance movement in Auvergne.

 

The Joseph Lhoménède Museum of the Resistance, Deportation and the Second World War in Frugières-le-Pin gives visitors and researchers the opportunity to learn and explore the history of the resistance movement in Auvergne, which started in late June 1940 and continued until May 1944. 
 
The museum, a private initiative of Mr Capelani and a number of local resistance veterans, offers 120 metres of display cases exhibiting period documents, tracts, over 300 posters, photos, parachute and sabotage equipment and over 100 mannequins dressed in the uniforms worn by the allied armies. The collection campaigns helped to find 42 military vehicles, concentration camp wagons as well as documentation on the camp in Riom.

 

 
The museum also owns an impressive collection of archives, mostly from private donations.  An ideal resource for researchers to see letters from Auschwitz, reports by Eugène Martre, war correspondent in Aurillac for Cantal, and even objects once owned by French politician Jean Zay. 
 
 
Musée de la Résistance, de la Déportation et de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (Museum of the Resistance, Deportation and the Second World War)
43230 Frugières-le-Pin, France
Tel: +33 (0)4 71 76 42 15
 
Getting there 10 miles (15 km) east of Frugières-le-Pin
 
Opening times Open every day including weekends and public holidays, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. from November to May and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from June to October. Group visits by appointment. 
 
Admission Adults and children: €4, Groups (over 20): €3, School groups: €2
 
 
 
 
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Practical information

Address

43230
Frugières-le-Pin
04.71.76.42.15

Prices

Admission: 4 € Groups (over 20): 3 € School groups: 2 €

Weekly opening hours

From 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. from November to May From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. from June to October Group visits by appointment.