Deportation Memorial

At the foot of Fort Saint-Jean, facing the old neighborhoods completely destroyed during the Second World War, the Deportations Memorial is installed in a blockhouse built by the German army in 1943 as part of a defensive barrier, intended to prevent an Allied landing . in Provence. At a time when the last witnesses disappear, the place strives to transmit the history and memory of the men, women and children arrested then deported because they were born Jewish or repressed as politicians, resistance fighters, hostages or “suspects”. In 1940, Marseille was still a port open to the world, a door to freedom for some, to the resumption of combat for others. From 1942, during its occupation, Marseille was rocked. In 1943, described as the “canker of Europe” by the Nazi regime, it crystallized hatred of foreigners and the undesirable. The tragic events of 1943 carried out by the Nazis with the collaboration of the Vichy regime are discussed at length through films and victims’ testimonies: roundups of Jewish communities, evacuation and destruction of the “old neighborhoods” and deportations. Designed as a dynamic place in constant evolution, the course aims to be enriched and renewed with new content and devices.

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