Inaugurated in March 2011, in Marseille, the memorial of La Marseillaise traces, in a unique setting, the history of one of the strongest symbols of the Republic of France: La Marseillaise national anthem.

It spread as far as Montpellier, and the song, called "Chant de guerre des armées aux frontières" (war song of frontier-based armies) was sung in Marseille by a delegate of the Club des Amis de la Constitution, François Mireur, a future general. He coordinated the departure of volunteers from the Midi region for the front; he began singing the song during a banquet and it was received with great enthusiasm. The song was published and printed the following day and adopted by the federates of Marseille as a marching song.

These soldiers sang it triumphantly all the way to the Tuileries, on 30th July 1792. Parisians, without a care for the official title, gave the song a name, which would stick: La Marseillaise. This name expresses the unity of the fighting nation, from Strasbourg to the Midi, passing through Paris. On 14th July 1795, although rivalled by another song, "Le Réveil du Peuple" (the awakening of the people), La Marseillaise was declared the "national anthem" by the Convention.

It was banned under the Empire and the Restoration, but was revived and honoured during the 1830 Revolution. The fate of La Marseillaise is thus closely tied with the history of the French Republic. In 1879, Jules Grévy, President of the 3rd Republic, made this well-known and patriotic song the national hymn for France once and for all. The official version was adopted in 1887.

It was banned in the occupied zone in the Second World War, but La Marseillaise was reinstated as the national anthem under the 4th and 5th Republics, and written into article 2 of the Constitution.

Beyond its political posterity, La Marseillaise had a significant musical influence. In 1830, Berlioz composed an orchestral arrangement which he dedicated to Rouget de l'Isle, with the dedication "For everything which has a heart, a voice, and blood in its veins". In 1872, Franz Liszt composed a fantasy for piano to the tune of La Marseillaise. Igor Stravinsky made a transcription for the solo violin and Dimitri Chostakovitch used it for the music of the film, The New Babylon. Pierre Dupont, chief of music of the Republican Guard between 1927 and 1944, composed the official arrangement of the national anthem and it is version which is still in use. A number of artists, from opera singers to variety singers, have given their voice to this song and invented many different interpretations.

By creating a Memorial, the city of Marseille wanted to trace the history of the French national anthem from its origins and recall the active role of the people of Marseille in the French Revolution. The former Club des Jacobins was chosen for the site, as it wasn't far from here that Marseille federates left for Paris, in 1792, singing the revolutionary song.

The site covers an area of 300 m2 and is based on three themes. The Salle des Marseillaises shows visitors some of the different versions or variants of the revolutionary song and its interpretations (there are over 600), from its origin to the present day. In the Salle des Doléances, nine sculptures representing historic or fictional characters come to life one by one in a lively dialogue. Mirabeau, Moisson, La Cayolle, etc., comment, from Marseille, on the French Revolution and the role played by the city's residents during these events. Lastly, in the Salle du Jeu de paume, visitors are plunged into the time of the revolution thanks to multimedia equipment with images and sound. They can experience the march of the federates to Paris, to the rhythm of La Marseillaise.

In December 2013, the town council voted for the Memorial of La Marseillaise to be attached to the Musée d'Histoire de Marseille.

Memorial of La Marseillaise

23-25 rue Thubaneau 13001 Marseille

Tel.: +33 (0)4 91 91 91 96

Open daily from 10 am to 7 pm

 In 2009, Montluc Prison was closed in favour of new facilities built outside Lyon.

On the demand of the prefect for the Rhône-Alpes region, the state services then protected a large part of the Montluc site as historic monuments, responding to the long-standing hope of remembrance and veterans associations and in particular the Montluc survivors association.

In addition to plans to protect the building, discussions were started in order to find ways to use the building to bear witness to the violence of the Nazi regime in Lyon and to open up the site to visitors.

Built in the 1920s, Montluc military prison stands opposite the fort of the same name in an industrial district of Lyon. After the armistice in 1940, the prison welcomed ordinary prisoners, soldiers and perpetrators of “anti-national activities”, essentially Gaullists and Communists. Following the invasion of the southern zone, in November 1942, the German requisitioned the prison and placed it under exclusive control. Montluc then became the place for the internment of resistance fighters, hostages and victims of “racial measures”, awaiting their departure for Drancy and deportation to the concentration and extermination camps. Montluc was managed with daily contact with the Gestapo headquarters on Avenue Bertholet – in the premises of the army medical school, where interrogations took place (currently occupied by the History of Resistance and Deportation Centre).

Close to the prison, a competent military court for the southern zone was set up in 1943. The capital sentences were likely pronounced at the shooting range in Doua (today the national necropolis). Other convicts were shot inside the actual prison, on the covered way at a point now known as the “Wall of the Executed” and still visible today. After the landing in June 1944, a number of massacres of prisoners took place in the towns surrounding Lyon, in retaliation to the Allied advance and resistance actions. Between April and August 1944, over 600 prisoners were executed thus in Saint-Didier de Formans, Toussieu, Bron and Saint-Genis-Laval, the main locations of the exactions. The massacre of Saint-Genis-Lavel on 20 August 1944, where 120 prisoners were murdered in abominable conditions, ignited a vigorous protest of Cardinal Gerlier by the German authorities. At the same time, Yves Farges, commissioner of the republic still living undercover, threatened to execute the same number of German prisons if the massacres continued. On 24 August, the prisoners were released both by the intervention of the resistance and the departure of the jailers, a week before the liberation of Lyon on 3 September.

The Memorial of Montluc Prison, inaugurated by France’s Prime Minister on 21 June 2010, joined the other sites managed by the Ministry of Defence, qualified as a major memorial site, and opened its doors to the public on the occasion of the European Heritage Days in 2010. Since then, the site continues to attract more and more visitors, making it a credible and complementary member in the network of regional places of remembrance alongside the History of Resistance and Deportation Centre in Lyon and the Jean Moulin Caluire Memorial, as well as, on a larger scale, Maison d’Izieu, a memorial to the murdered Jewish children. The Montluc Memorial contributes to the discussions introduced by the problems specific to remembrance sites, both scientifically and historically and in terms of hosting and educating the public.

Memorial to Montluc Prison
1 rue Jeanne Hachette 69003 Lyon

C’est à Caluire et Cuire, le 21 juin 1943, que Jean Moulin, représentant personnel du Général de Gaulle, chef des Mouvements Unis de la Résistance et président du Conseil National de la Résistance, fait ses derniers pas d’homme libre. En début d’après-midi, il sera arrêté par Klaus Barbie et la Gestapo avec 7 résistants responsables de l’Armée Secrète. Les suites de cette arrestation furent tragiques : Jean Moulin fut torturé et mourut lors de son transfert vers l’Allemagne.

La maison du Docteur Dugoujon, devenue Mémorial Jean Moulin en 2010, est inscrite à l’Inventaire des Monuments historiques et labellisée « Maison des Illustres ». Réhabilitée dans le respect de son aspect originel, elle constitue l’une des traces les plus importantes et bien conservées de la Résistance française dans la région de Lyon. Trois salles mémorielles permettent d’imaginer le cadre de l’arrestation du 21 juin 1943. La salle multimédia est un espace non mémoriel aménagé en sous-sol dans l'ancienne cave du docteur. Elle permet au visiteur d'approfondir ses connaissances et ses réflexions sur la période à travers des outils numériques et une scénographie repensée autour de la citoyenneté et des valeurs de la République.

Step into the fortress and see what the Resistance fighters' everyday lives were like. A symbolic walk from shadow to light... Vassieux "This is where the land of freedom begins" The history of France's first and biggest maquis. Unlike a museum of objects, the Memorial uses stage sets, images, sound and light. Integrated architecture This citadel embedded in the mountain harmoniously blends into the site's exceptional natural environment, leaving the hollow of a coomb free and intact. The camouflaged, vegetation-covered building recalls the maquisards' underground life. A powerful, highly evocative work The 1,200m2 space recreates the period's moods with a set of codes to decipher. Everything has been designed to help you understand and feel the maquisards' hopes and sorrows.

A universal message of vigilance and solidarity The Memorial is a commemorative monument, a place of remembrance and contemplation. It keeps the memory of the tragic events of July 1944 alive and pays homage to the men and women who fought for freedom. The thought-provoking exhibits feature documentaries and first-hand accounts: an analysis and understanding of human behaviour during acts of grandeur and of barbarism. The goals are to emphasize the universal value of what Vercors stands for and to make the message of resistance, of all resistance, heard by as many people as possible. Not all resistance leads to victory, but it always leads to dignity. Every year 37,000 people visit the Memorial (50% are children).
Become both a player and an onlooker during the visit: From shadow... Live the daily life of the French under the Occupation Feel their fear during the dark years (visual and sound environment). Understand the motives of those who rejected defeat. The sacrificed fortress: Witness the invasion of Vercors Fortress - moving model, original images "This is where the land of freedom begins" Symbolic rise in the Vercors The Corridor of Testimonials : recollections of the maquis veterans and inhabitants of Vercors - audio and video room Daily life in the maquis camps and commitment to the struggle - exhibition "The torn plateau": what meaning can the sacrifices of those who fought in the shadows be given today? - documentary to light... Resisting again! Questions on forms of resistance in today's world - film by Franck Pavloff. The corridor of lead leaves: a silent homage to Vercors' 840 civilian and military victims - a place of contemplation The Belvedere The belvedere, a moment of confrontation between a landscape and its history, offers a sweeping view of the entire range and the magnificent landscapes of Vercors that were battlefields in 1944 "The wind of liberty blows here" - orientation table. In addition to a historical analysis of the history of the Resistance in Vercors, the Memorial recalls two contradictory sides to our humanity, shadow and light. Exhibition updated in 2007 The visit lasts 90 minutes.
The Memorial's plusses For childrenNew! A game called "On Antoine's trail". A historical investigation leading to a young reporter's diploma. Guided tours for all - A cultural mediator at the Belvedere deciphers the visit's codes every Monday at 11am during school holidays - free1 every day by reservation for groups of children and adults (from 15 people) - ask for our group brochure online at www.memorial-vercors.fr) Documents to help you during your visit for French adults and children, tour guide and simultaneous translation into English, German and Dutch for non-French-speaking visitors. Shop The bookshop offers an extremely diversified choice of works on the Vercors, the Second World War and contemporary conflicts - youth, novels, essays, comics, souvenirs, postcards, objects The Memorial's cultural programme delivers a universal message of peace, solidarity, tolerance and commitment to freedom.
Vercors Resistance Memorial Col de La Chau 26420 Vassieux-en-Vercors Tel.: 33 (0)4 75 48 26 00 Fax: 33 (0)4 75 48 28 67 E-mail: info@memorial-vercors.fr Open May to Sept.: 10am-6pm 7/7 non-stop every day Oct.-11 Nov.: 10am-5pm every day School holidays: 10am-5pm every day Closed 12 Nov. to Christmas holidays, 25 Dec. and 1 Jan. Open every day for groups January to April: contact us Admission Adults 5€ Children 8-15 (free for children under 8): 2€50 Reduced price for students, veterans, job-seekers, disabled people, Vertacopass: 4.00 € Family price (2 adults + 2 children): 12€50 (2€/add. child) groups (15p) by reservation. Price: ask us How to get there From Valence by the grands goulets tunnel, col de la bataille, col de la chau From Die by the col de rousset From Grenoble by Villard de Lans Shop, free parking, accessible to people with reduced mobility

The Shoah Memorial was opened to the public on 27 January 2005 for the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp and the European Day in Memory of the Holocaust and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity.

Located in the historic Marais quarter of Paris, today it has become the reference institution in Europe for the Shoah.

Understanding the past to shed light on the future – that is this site’s mission as a place of remembrance, a museum and a documentation centre.

Open to a wide, diverse public, it provides numerous spaces and activities: a permanent exhibition on the Shoah and the history of the Jews in France during World War II, a temporary exhibition space, an auditorium that schedules projections, conferences, debates, book presentations, etc., the Wall of Names engraved with the manes of the 76,000 Jewish men, women and children deported from France between 1942 and 1944; the Wall of the Righteous which bears the names of the 2,693 Righteous Among the Nations who protected or saved Jews in France during the Nazi occupation; the crypt, a place of contemplation where the ashes of victims of Auschwitz and the Warsaw ghetto are held; the Centre of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (one million documents archived, 90,000 photographs and 50,000 books) and its reading room, a multimedia space, pedagogical areas where workshops are held for children and activities for teacher classes, and a bookstore.

Intended for the widest public, the Shoah Memorial contributes to teaching about a crime that is unique in the history of humanity, but also takes part education and discussions on tolerance, freedom and democracy.

Shoah Memorial

17 rue Geoffroy l'Asnier 75004 Paris

Tel.: +33 (0)1 42 77 44 72 (switchboard and voice mail server)

Fax: +33 (0)1 53 01 17 44

E-Mail: contact@memorialdelashoah.org

Opening hours

The museum is open every day except Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm and Thursdays to 10 pm.

Closed on Saturdays, certain national bank holidays and certain Jewish holidays.

The reading rooms and the multimedia education centre are open every day except Saturdays from 10 am to 5.30 pm and Thursdays to 7.30 pm.

Mémorial de la Shoah

During the First World War, the Hartmannswillerkopf, a rocky mountain spur dominating the Alsace plain to the south of the Vosges, occupied a strategic position. More than 150,000 men belonging to regiments that came from the whole of France, in particular the Chasseurs et les Diables rouges (Chasseurs and Red Devils) of the Colmar regiment, fought there for four years in order to re-conquer the Alsace. Around 25,000 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers fell on the "Vieil Armand", as the poilus or foot soldiers christened it. Situated in the Vosges mountain range at an altitude of 956 metres, the Hartmannswillerkopf site is one of four national monuments of the Great War, during which time it was a strategic battleground. About 25,000 French soldiers died on the slopes of the "Vieil Armand". Listed as a historic monument in 1921, it has been developed thanks to a national fund under the noble patronage of the President of the Republic and five Marshals of France. Several buildings were constructed between 1924 and 1929 at this important place of remembrance and the whole place was inaugurated in October 1932 by the President of the Republic, Albert Lebrun.

Today the site of the battlefield, well maintained and signposted, is one of the most well preserved in France. Forty-five kilometres of paths and trenches provide access to French fortifications, such as the Roche Sermet and the Roche Mégard and to some German structures (Aussichtsfelsen etc.). These paths also lead to a cemetery, to the monument to the 152nd infantry regiment and to the steles (Serret, Chambaud and the one recalling the sacrifice of lieutenant Pierre Scheurer, who died on the 28th April 1915) and finally, to some German monuments such as the one to the chasseurs, and to the staircase with 560 steps "to the sky".
Built on sloping land, the Silberloch cemetery has 1,264 graves of soldiers who could be identified and six ossuaries. Dominating the cemetery, an alter to the Homeland, facing east towards the summit of the Hartmannswillerkopf, has been constructed on a stone esplanade above the crypt. Identical to the one of 1790, it symbolises the mass movement of volunteers who rushed to the borders to defend the Republic. On its four sides are the names of the towns that took part in financing the collection of monuments: Paris, Strasbourg, Colmar, Mulhouse, Besançon, Metz, Lille, Rouen, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes etc. An eighty metre long trench provides access to the cultural crypt, in the centre of which is the ossuary. Covered with a bronze shield six metres in diameter, it contains the remains of some 12,000 unknown soldiers. The word "Patrie" (Homeland) is engraved on the shield in gold lettering. The entrance to the crypt, which is closed by a wrought iron gate bearing the inscription Ad lucem perpetuat, is guarded by two archangels created by the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.
Inside, weapons and equipment recovered from the battlefield are on display, as well as photographs and sculptures. On the walls of the corridor leading to the crypt are bronze plaques bearing the numbers of the 101 units, regiments et battalions that succeeded each other on the battle field over fifty-two months. A Catholic Chapel with a statue of the Virgin Mary on top, also by Antoine Bourdelle, is decorated with inscriptions composed by Monseigneur Ruch, the first bishop of Strasbourg after 1918. Sites for the Protestant and Jewish religions have also been built. A reinforced concrete cross 20 m high and 5.25 m wide stretches out towards the hills of the Vosges. It was illuminated for the first time on the night of the 10th November 1936.
The Vieil Armand Battlefield Route des crêtes 68700 Wattwiller Tel.: 03 89 75 50 35

Last February a memorial was opened on the site of the former Royallieu internment camp. As place of history, it is a reminder of events, setting them within the context of the Second World War and the Nazi policies of repression and extermination. As a place of remembrance, it pays homage to all those who were detained there before being deported to Germany and Poland or shot as hostages. In 1939, the Royallieu barracks near Compiègne in the Oise département was used as a military hospital before being converted by the Germans in June 1940 into a camp where they brought French and British prisoners of war.

In 1941, they turned it into a " permanent concentration camp for active enemy individuals" under the official name of Frontstalag 122, which became a "German police detention camp" by virtue of decree on the 30th December 1941. Resistance fighters, political and unionist militants, Jews, civilians arrested in raids and foreigners etc. - more than 45,000 of them would pass through there before being deported to Nazi concentration and extermination camps. "I got out of the last departure and really hope not to be in on the next one. I am here with some really nice, good people: communists, Gaullists, royalists, priests, aristocrats and country folk - it's an extraordinary mixture", the poet Robert Desnos, who was interned on the 20th March 1944, wrote to his girlfriend. A short respite. A death train took him away on the 27th April to Flöha en Saxe and he was to succumb to typhoid on the 8th June 1945 at Terezin. It was from the camp at Royallieu that the very first deportation train was to leave French soil on the 27th March 1942. It took over a thousand Jews to Auschwitz, as did the next one on the 5th June. A third convoy, consisting mostly of communist and unionist hostages, left Compiègne on the 6th July. Royallieu was thus to become a transit camp for detainees, for the most part political and resistance fighters, prior to their deportation.
A place for remembering Research carried out by the Remembrance of the Deportation Foundation at the History Department of the Ministry of Defence's archive office for victims of contemporary conflicts has allowed the identification of the departure of twenty-six large convoys, in addition to a dozen small convoys between 1942 and 1944. Including the first two convoys of deported Jews, this makes a total of forty convoys. Since the camp also served as a place for detaining hostages, other internees were shot in the surrounding forests once reprisal measures had been agreed. It is to all these people that the internment and deportation memorial is dedicated. This has just been built on part of the former camp by the town of Compiègne in partnership with the Remembrance of the Deportation Foundation, the Defence Department (Directorate of Memory, Heritage and Archives, SGA/DMPA), the Regional Council of Picardy, the General Council of the Oise, the Heritage Foundation and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (a government body in charge of investing and lending public money). The historian and filmmaker Christian Delage created the journey through history. The architect and scenographer Jean-Jacques Raynaud designed the setting. The result is solemn, due as much to the materials used - glass, concrete and stone - as to the way the floors and walls in the three preserved buildings that remain out of the original twenty-five have been stripped back to their initial condition, and the use of sounds and images to set the scene. Opposite the entrance stands a wall to guide visitors towards the reception hall. Made up of a series of glass pillars bearing the names of all the deportees and internees of the camp at Royallieu identified to date, its purpose is to give the internees back their identities. It is through these names that visitors are introduced to the site. Around the buildings is what is today a garden of remembrance, as well as an exhibition area: plans of the internment camp, group photographs of the guards and written and recorded accounts accompany visitors as they retrace the history of the site.
The memorial provides two routes that are complementary to and inseparable from each other. One of them, the result of the hard work of historians, puts the history of the camp in context; the other encourages visitors to follow their own personal remembrance trail. The history is mapped out along a frieze running the length of the walls of the ten halls that form the tour. It covers in succession: the historic context, internment and the daily life of the camp, transportation on the deportation trains and forced labour and death in the Nazi camps. Documents and archive films illustrate the descriptions. Letters, photographs, drawings and recorded eyewitness accounts tell of life at Royallieu. In places, the images projected onto the walls and floors dominate the whole room. The remembrance trails themselves are an opportunity to meet the many witnesses, who tell of how they survived their passage through this transit camp. These accounts, in several different voices, demonstrate the wide diversity in the backgrounds of the detainees, their opinions and the conditions in which they were held. These men and women are constantly present: their names, their faces, their words and their written accounts remain with the visitor. The buildings are both exhibition halls and "exhibits" at the same time. The walls, floors and ceilings are all in their original condition: the tiles and lino have been removed, to reveal the original rough concrete that internees would have trodden; the false ceilings from the 1970's have been taken down to show the barracks' plastered ceilings; recent paint work has been scraped off to reveal the different layers of materials, colours and decoration beneath.
The words of witnesses The memorial provides many and varied sound recordings. Chosen carefully, some of them contribute in setting the scene. Broadcast all around the place, they are triggered automatically as they detect visitors' movement. Others are transmitted by an audio-guide, available to every visitor. In this way everyone can follow his own audio route, in his own language and at his own speed. The audio-guide can also be used to develop tours for specific groups - young children or the partially sighted - and themed tours etc. The words of the witnesses resonate around the place. They resound off the metal and wooden chairs in the garden and leap out at you as you pass through the corridors of the buildings. It is these different accounts, organised by theme, such as arrival at the camp, daily and social life, ways of surviving, solidarity, loneliness, leaving for Germany etc., that best tell the history of the camp. These sound montages have been created from documents in the huge audio-visual collection built up by the Remembrance of the Deportation Foundation and from new accounts recorded especially for the memorial. At times, the scenography calls on the emotions in a personal way, encouraging visitors to attune their feelings with those of the place itself and to remember rather then to discover. This is why, for example, on the floor in the barracks the positions where the beds would have been are marked using a single line to draw their outlines, extending up the walls to indicate bunk beds. The resulting impression of being cramped together is immediately apparent. In the same spirit, pictures of men and women are projected onto the walls very slowly, one after the other. Letters sent by prisoners to their families have been collected in two virtual albums that are projected onto two table screens, whilst at the same time being read aloud by actors. The tour ends in a room dedicated to the history of deportation, genocide and the punishment of criminals.
The contribution of the Defence Department Through the general administration department's Directorate of Memory, Heritage and Archives, the deputy minister for ex-servicemen awarded a grant of two million Euros spread over 2005 and 2006, as a contribution to the creation of this place of remembrance. In addition, the Defence Department, now the owner of the site of the former barracks at Royallieu, transferred the management of two hectares of land to the town of Compiègne and it is on this land that the Internment and Deportation Memorial was built.
Internment and Deportation Memorial Camp de Royallieu 2 bis, rue des Martyrs de la liberté 60200 Compiègne Tel. 03 44 96 37 00 E-mail: memorial@compiegne.fr

The Battle of Arras Memorial was opened to the public on 1 March 2008. Erected in the former Wellington Quarry, it commemorates the Allied Engagement and the role this location played in the planning of the British offensive of April 1917 in Arras.

In spring 1917, the French General Nivelle, while preparing the Chemin des Dames offensive, requested that the commander of the British troops launch a diversion attack in the sector of Arras.

The main difficulty with this operation was gathering the troops in large numbers without attracting the enemy’s attention. The New Zealand fire brigade were commanded to dig tunnels beneath the enemy trenches in order to link together the old quarries used by stonecutters in the 15^th and 16^th centuries and create a huge underground network stretching 20 kilometres. It allowed the British troops to come out from nowhere, on the morning of 9 April, a few metres from the German front line.

This underground network was the biggest of its kind ever constructed by the British troops. The other purpose of these passages was to meet the basic needs of the 24,000 men billeted there prior to combat, the quarries providing a high level of security despite its close proximity to the Front with kitchens, showers and latrines installed as well as a military hospital. To facilitate their movements around the tunnels, the New Zealand and British troops named the quarries after towns and cities from their homelands. The main quarry was named Wellington.

A recent research programme carried out on these quarries by Arras’ archaeological department unearthed many traces of their former French and British occupants, the soldiers who lived and fought here during the war. In light of the interest these new-found testimonials hold in helping us to understand the everyday lives of the soldiers, a thorough inventory of the passages was made in the Wellington Quarry.

The town of Arras took the initiative to build this memorial, part funded by the Regional Council, the French Ministry of Regional Planning, the Urban Community, the General Council and the Ministry of Defence.

This place of remembrance comprises a remembrance garden and a wall dedicated to the British regiments who fought in this battle engraved with the names of all the soldiers. Documents about Arras dating back to the Great War are displayed in the half-buried reception hall.

Over 75 minutes, the tour pays tribute to the engagement of the Allied troops around Arras, focusing more on the soldiers’ everyday lives than the war itself. The quarry is open to groups of up to 17 people led by a tour guide. A glass lift takes the group 20 metres below ground to visit the 350 metres of tunnels that have been renovated.

This strategic network also housed the living quarters of thousands of soldiers billeted below ground. Drawings and graffiti, bas reliefs, crosses and other features can be seen on the walls, along with traces left behind by the soldiers such as helmets and rusted tins of food.

Each visitor is given an audio-guide that describes 10 sequences illustrated by visual projections and light shows on the surrounding walls: the discovery of the underground world; the traces left by the working quarry in the Middle Ages; the tunnel of history (the quarries up to 1916); the objectives of this unique military strategy in the context of the war; the tunnelling operation in 1916 and 1917; daily life in the quarries in April 1917; the construction of the network, and the Battle of Arras in April 1917. To conclude, a film about the Battle of Arras, based on archives from the Imperial War Museum, is shown in a room at the end of the tour. The memorial hopes to welcome 60,000 visitors a year.

Wellington Quarry

Rue Delétoile 62000 Arras

Tel: +(0)3 21 51 26 95

Office de tourisme d'Arras

Carrière Wellington

On 8 June 1944, two days after the Normandy landings, the 2nd German armoured tank division, "Das Reich", received orders to position itself between Tulle and Limoges. The "Der Führer" regiment was put in charge of "cleansing" this sector since German troops had been confronted by a series of actions organised by local members of the French Resistance. On 10 June 1944, the market town of Oradour-sur-Glane, which lies 22 kilometres north-west of Limoges, was surrounded by Waffen SS troops. The inhabitants of the village and surrounding areas, who had met in the town for the weekly fair held there each Saturday, were rounded up into the main plaza and systematically slaughtered: women and children were locked inside the church and burned alive, while men were machine-gunned down in various parts of the village. Soldiers went into streets and houses, killing at random so as to eliminate any witnesses, and tried to dispose of the corpses by setting fire to them or throwing them into a mass grave to prevent identification. By the time the troops have finished pillaging and burning the village, they left behind them a death toll of 642, plus a handful of survivors, witnesses to the tragedy.

On 4 March 1945, General De Gaulle, the head of the provisional government of the French Republic, made the journey to Oradour and declared the site a martyr village. It became property of the French government in April 1945. A law declared the site a historical monument on 10 May 1946. A decision was made to protect the ruins and to build a new market town next to the former village. In the late 1980s, the idea was born to build a memorial centre to explain, for educational purposes, the significance of the event and the ruins to generations not familiar with the horrors of war.
Construction of this centre began in 1992 under the auspices of the council of the French department of Haute-Vienne and the work was completed on 12 May 1999, after which the centre opened its doors to the public and became the new access route to the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane. Inside a building whose architecture is testimony to the tormented history of the site, there is a permanent exhibition containing a number of archival documents that lead the visitor down a pathway, enabling them to situate the tragedy in the context of World War II. Why Oradour? In order to answer this question, the memorial centre sets out to simultaneously present the peaceful market town that was Oradour from the pre-war period until the tragic events of 10 June 1944 and the increase in the barbarity of the Nazis, in particular by the "Das Reich" division of the Waffen SS. An account of the massacre is given in a rolling 12-minute film. The film draws on eyewitness accounts from survivors and statements made by executioners put on trial in Bordeaux in 1953.
Aw well as temporary exhibitions and a documentation centre, the Centre provides an education team to help teachers who wish to organise a visit to the site as part of an educational project. Led by two history professors, the team prepares for the arrival of classes and offers teachers access to the Centre's structures and documentation. Apart from being a symbol of a France wounded by the German occupation, an integral part of the national memory, the Memorial Centre has a universal message, prompting the visitor to reflect on the defence of human rights and peace.
Centre de la Mémoire B.P. 12 87520 Oradour-sur-Glane Tel: 33/ (0) 555 430 430 Fax: 33/ (0) 555 430 431 Website: http://www.oradour.org
Open every day 9 :00 to 17 :00 in February, November and 1-16 December 9 :00 to 18 :00 in March, April, 1-15 May, 15-30 September, October 9 :00 to 19 :00 from 15 May - 15 September Please note: entry to the centre and village closes one hour before stated closing times. Prices Free for children under 8 Non-guided visit: €6 Concession: €4 (students, job-seekers, visitors 8 -18 years of age, war veterans) Family visit (2 adults, 3 children): €16 Youth groups: €2 per person Groups: €4.50 per person for groups of 20 or more (non-guided visits) Guided tours: €6.50 (call 33/ (0)5 55 430 430 for bookings) Coach and car parking facilities, disabled access. Access to the martyr village of Oradour-sur-Glane is free. The village can only be accessed via the memorial centre.

On 25 August 1944, as Paris celebrated its liberation, 124 residents of the little commune of Maillé, in the south of the Touraine area, were massacred by German soldiers.

In the years that followed, the village was completely rebuilt. This absence of ruins meant that, unlike Oradour-sur-Glane, the event was entirely forgotten, despite being the second largest massacre to be perpetrated by the Nazis on French soil.

Opened in 2006, the Maison du Souvenir aims to raise awareness about the massacre, through more than 250 documents and a film of first-hand accounts. It tells the story of the village before, during and after the event. Aimed at both schoolchildren and the general public, the centre also looks at the fate of civilians in contemporary conflicts. Exhibitions and events are held throughout the year.
On 25 August 2008, the massacre at last received national recognition with the official opening of the Maison du Souvenir by the French President.

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Source : ©Maison du Souvenir de Maillé