Memorial of the Deportation

At the farthest eastern tip of the Ile de la Cite, just across the street from Pope John XXIII Square and Notre Dame, lies a monument to the 200,000 French citizens-- men, women and children-- who were rounded up and deported to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Besides Jews, there were political activists, resistance fighters, homosexuals and gypsies also deported. Many never returned. The memorial was designed by Georges-Henri Pingusson, and it was inaugurated by Charles DeGaulle in 1962.

The sign pointing to the memorial

A small and peaceful park is adjacent to the memorial.

A row of trees and a bed of roses in the park

The bed of roses

This garden is one of the plainer ones in Paris. It may have been designed purposely to seem simpler and more somber than other gardens.

“French martyrs of the deportation”

is etched in the wall leading to the memorial. The writing looks as if it were formed from barbed wire.

The wall continues.

1945 was the end of World War II

As you descend the steps, you are surrounded by walls, and you have become a prisoner. You can see only the sky and a bit of the Seine River through an iron grate.

The steps downward

The first sight of the iron spike barrier as you descend the stairs

The ominous sculpture and iron grate

Notice how the shape of this enclosure conforms to the physical shape of the tip of the Ile de la Cite.

A closer view of the iron spike barrier that suggests barbed wire and the iron grate. The grate made me think of a dungeon. You can see the Seine  through the grate.

At the very tip of the Ile de la Cite, look closely at the opening just above the water line. You can see the iron grate of the memorial. It really looks dungeon-like from this vantage point.

The narrow entrance to the memorial

The circular panel says,

They descended into the mouth of the earth and they did not return.

Names of  Nazi concentration camps

The Heart that Hated War

by Robert Desnos, French poet, French Resistance member, and a deportee himself

 I have dreamt so very much of you,

I have walked so much,

Loved your shadow so much,

That nothing more is left to me of you.

All that remains to me is to be the shadow among shadows

To be a hundred times more of a shadow than the shadow

To be the shadow that will come and come again into

Your sunny life.

Augustin Maydieu was a Dominican priest and member of the Resistance.

The death of those shot was more effective than the most brilliant triumphs.

And the choice that each one made about his life
and about himself was authentic because it was made
in the presence of death.

Jean-Paul Sartre

The triangles are reminiscent of the identification patches inmates were forced to wear.

The hearts that hated war are now beating for liberty in rhythm with the seasons,

  the tides, and day and night. 
Robert Desnos

Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps.

The inscription above the Tomb of the Unknown Deportee and the chamber of crystal lights

Pingusson intended this narrow below-ground space to suggest the feeling of morbid enclosure, and some have even described it as a crypt. Honoring each of the victims are 200,000 light-infused crystals. The Tomb of the Unknown Deportee lies below the inscription. A light, the “flame of eternal hope,” burns at the end of the tunnel.

Forgive, But Don’t Forget...

The inscription  above the exit from the memorial

The exit from the memorial

This visit was not your typical sightseeing activity. Instead, it was a sobering, thought-provoking and worthwhile experience.