Mémorial de la Shoah is the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

museum in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The memorial is in the

4th arrondissement of Paris The 4th arrondissement of Paris (''IVe arrondissement'') is one of the twenty arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''quatrième''. Along with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd arrondissement ...

, in the

Marais Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to: People * Marais (given name) * Marais (surname) Other uses * Le Marais, historic district of Paris * Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France * Marais (c ...

district, which had a large Jewish population at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The memorial was opened, by President Jacques Chirac, on 27 January 2005. This day was chosen to coincide with

International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of on ...

and the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. The memorial underwent a major renovation in 2005, creating exhibition spaces, a multimedia center, and a reading room.

Areas of the memorial

Forecourt

The forecourt of the memorial above the memorial crypt, includes a circular memorial listing the names of the death camps and the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

. There is also a wall with seven bas-reliefs by Arbit Blatas that symbolize the camps and the persecution of the Jews. The facade of the building, above the forecourt, has two inscriptions. First, a line from an adaptation of Deuteronomy 25:17 by Zalman Schnoeur (translated from Hebrew): Second, a quote from Justin Godart, Minister of Health and Honorary President of the Committee for the Unknown Jewish Martyr (translated from French):

Wall of Names

Several walls that make a passageway to the building list the names of the approximately 76,000 French Jews who were deported and murdered by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

. They are listed alphabetically by year of deportation.

Crypt

The crypt predates the Mémorial de la Shoah; in 1957, the ashes of victims from the different death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto were buried in dirt from Israel. A door from the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp in France faces the tomb.

Jewish files

Mémorial de la Shoah @ Paris (31918977793)

The Jewish files are located in a small room near the crypt. They were created by the

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

government to identify Jewish citizens, and were later used by the Nazis to locate Jews for deportation.

Exhibit rooms

The memorial's permanent exhibit documents the history of

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsi ...

during the Holocaust. The materials on exhibit include photographs, text, and video and audio recordings. The memorial also includes an auditorium, bookstore, multimedia learning center, documentation center, and the Room of Names (research room).

The Wall of the Righteous

Since 1963, the Museum Memorial of

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

(Jerusalem) has awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" to non-Jewish people who helped save Jews during the war. As of 2014, this wall lists 3,300 people, either French or acting in France, who have been awarded this title. The wall runs alongside of the memorial.

Gallery

The_Wall_of_the_Righteous.jpg, The Wall of the Righteous The_wall_of_Names.jpg, The Wall of Names Crypte_au_Memorial_de_la_Shoah_(Paris).jpg, The Crypt Part of a barrack in the Shoah Memorial (Paris).jpg, Part of barrack #6 from Beaune-la-Rolande camp.

References

External links

* Museums in Paris Jewish museums in France Jews and Judaism in Paris History museums in France Holocaust museums Buildings and structures in the 4th arrondissement of Paris Le Marais World War II museums in France {{France-stub