WWII Memorials in Paris

This past weekend in Paris, I spent some time visiting several memorials in Paris to individuals who perished in the Holocaust as well as French citizens who risked their lives to save others.  The first one I visited, tucked almost discretely behind the flowering gardens on Notre Dame, was the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation.  The entree was free.  This memorial has a fairly profound effect on me.  As you enter, you descend a set of stairs to an open-air room that juts out to the end of the island.  One can barely view the water, as the stone window is guarded by sharp and jarring cast iron.  I figured this was it, but I turned around and saw a narrow passage way into darkness.  Following it, I found that the memorial opened up greatly on the inside.

Directly across from the entrance, a long hallway barred with metal rods greeted me.  A single flame flickered at the end of the hallway, lighting up thousands of incandescent pieces of glass that lined the somber, brown walls.  It was hard not to get caught up in the image.  You see a flickering light of hope, far but not too far, blocked by bars in the most traditional way.  This hallway was flanked by two dim, whitewashed rooms with similar bars.  When I peered inside, the humidity truly gave me the feeling of being inside of a gas chamber.  It was a visceral experience.

Above these rooms was an exhibition detailing the horrors of the deportation, transportation, and internment of French Jews.  It was detailed and some of the photographs were quite graphic.  Although I have learned about the Holocaust extensively throughout my schooling, it is always a surprising realization when I read new testimonials.

The Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation was a great representation of what the French Jews endured during the Holocaust.  It somber aesthetics and straightforward representation of the struggle will stay with me for a long time.