Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Besançon

The Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Besançon (Besançon Museum of Resistance and Deportation) is located within the Besançon Citadel, a Vauban fortification begun in 1668 and completed in 1711. German occupation of France during the Second World War saw the citadel employed as a detention camp for captured members of the French Resistance; approximately 100 were executed there by firing squad from 1941 to 1945. Following Besançon's liberation by French and American forces in 1944, the citadel was converted into a German prisoner of war camp; it remained in military use after the war, and was acquired by the city in 1959. 

The museum itself presents the history of the Second World War in the region under five broad themes: the Rise of Nazism; Occupation and the Vichy Regime; Resistance and Repression, Deportation and Genocide, and Liberation. In addition to public displays on these topics, the museum serves as a centre for local archives and research on wartime experiences in Besançon and the surrounding Franche-Compté region.

The museum also contains a variety of literature and artwork including drawings, paintings, and sculptures created within concentration camps; these include media created within the citadel itself, by French prisoners from 1941 to 1944 and German prisoners from 1944 to 1948.