Le Memorial de la Deportation

From Paris Hotels Reviews

At the eastern tip of the island is the stark and moving symbolic tomb of the 200,000 French who died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II – Resistance fighters, Jews and forced labourers among them. The Memorial de la Deportation (daily 10am-noon & 2-7pm, closes 5pm in winter; free) is scarcely visible above ground; stairs hardly shoulder-wide descend into a space like a prison yard and off here is a stifling crypt where thousands of quartz pebbles represent the dead; floor and ceiling are black, and it ends in a black, raw hole, with a single naked bulb hanging in the middle. On either side are empty barred cells. Above the exit are the words “Pardonne.N’oublie pas” (“Forgive.Do not forget”). In contrast, the little green park surrounding the memorial is more of a celebration of life and a popular hang-out on a fine evening.