Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, Paris

The Mémorial de la Déportation is often overlooked by tour groups, even though it's only a stone's throw away from Notre Dame. A small catacomb-like memorial tucked away on the tip of Ile de la Cité, it commemorates French citizens who were arrested by the Nazis during World War II and shipped off to concentration camps.

You descend a narrow flight of steps and stand first in a broken-stone courtyard. A sculpture of jagged black metal partially covers a grill through which you can see the Seine. it gives you the sense of being in a prison -- able to see the water but unable to reach it.

Inside is a series of small rooms with parts of poems and other writings about trhe Holocaust carved into the walls. All are in French, so I understood maybe half of them. The one I remember said, "I was born so that you could sing me free."

There is a passageway, barred to entry, that you can peer into. The long walls of the passage are illuminated by tiny round lights like those in a flashlight, only golden -- set close together so that they form two long panels of light. It was very sobering to read that each light represents a French citizen taken by the Nazis -- over 200,000 in all. Fewer than 3% survived the camps.

Niches in the walls (triangular in shape, like the patches that the prisoners wore on their uniforms) represent different concentration camps like Auschwitz, Dachau, and Bergen Belsen, and contain ashes and earth from each camp. There is also an Unknown Jew entombed in the memorial.

This is a very touching and, I feel, a very holy place.

as the name shows, it's a monument, built for the memory of the 200 thousand french, who were deported to Nazi camps, during WWII.

it's one end of the Ile de la Cité, at the back of Notre Dame (the little piece of land between pont de l'Archevéché and pont St Louis). it is below ground level, so look for the stairs.

opening hours:
Winter: 10 am - noon, 2 - 5 pm
Summer: 10 am - noon, 2 - 7 pm

This is a very moving memorial to the 200,000 French victims of Nazi concentration camps. It is a somber place and the descent is reminiscent of descending into a prison. One plaque on the floor reads, "They descended into the mouth of the earth and they did not return." Inside is a long hallway with 200,000 lighted crystals and an eternal flame flickering in the distance. Just here is the tomb of the unknown deportee with the inscription, "Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps." Over the exit is the message which appears at all Nazi sites: "Forgive but never forget." A very moving experience. Behind Notre Dame in a little park at the tip of the island. Look for stairs going down as the memorial is below ground level.

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I went to a memorial for the French Jews deported to concentration camps during the war. This was a bit difficult to find if you didn't know to look for it. It is located in a small gated are behind the Notre Dame. It was very peaceful and moving. I wish I had been able to understand the incriptions on the wall.