French

The Mémorial de l’Internement et de la Déportation (Memorial of Internment and Deportation) in Compiègne is located on the site of the former Camp de Royallieu, an internment, transit, and deportation camp employed by German occupation authorities from June 1941 to August 1944. First constructed as a military barracks by the French Army in 1913, the site was repurposed following the occupation of France.

The Big Red One Assault Museum commemorates and records the actions of the United States’ 1st Infantry Division in the Battle of Normandy, following its landing at nearby Omaha Beach in 1944. The 1st Infantry Division, known as ‘Big Red One’ in reference to its large, red numeral ‘1’ combat service identification badge or shoulder patch, is a longstanding infantry unit organized in 1917 for service in France in response to American participation in the First World War.

The Mémorial de la Résistance en Vercors (Memorial of Resistance in Vercors) commemorates the actions and the fallen of the French Resistance, notably the Maquis, in the region of the Vercors Massif during the Second World War. A geographically imposing and fairly remote plateau populated by scattered villages, the Vercors Massif provided an opportunity for members of the French Resistance to evade German and Vichy authorities and to organize unmolested.

The Musée de la Libération (Museum of Liberation) in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin presents the history of Cherbourg during the Second World War. Beginning with the Battle of France and German occupation of Cherbourg in 1940, the museum describes the city’s crucial strategic importance as a deep-water channel port and as a main Allied objective during the Battle of Normandy. Occupied by German forces in June 1940 as part of the coastal militarized zone, Cherbourg served for the next four years as an important element in coastal defenses.

The Musée de la Résistance de Châteaubriant (Châteaubriant Museum of Resistance) is installed within a converted farmhouse located near the former entrance to Choisel Internment Camp (Centre de Séjour Surveillé de Choisel). Initially established in 1940 by the French Third Republic to serve as a prisoner of war camp, it was ultimately employed by the German Army to detain approximately 45 000 French and a small number of British soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of France.

The Musée de la Résistance Nationale (Museum of National Resistance), based in Champigny-sur-Marne and including 18 other locations throughout metropolitan France, administers a vast collection of objects and artifacts relating to war and resistance in France before, during, and following the Second World War. The collection includes more than 5000 objects and hundreds of thousands of documents acquired through more than 4000 separate donations, for a total of approximately 1 million individual items. These are held in partnership with the Archives Nationales (National Archives).

The Musée de la Résistance, de l'Internement et de la Déportation (Museum of Resistance, Internment, and Deportation) in Chamalières records the history of resistance, internment, and deportation in the region and in France from 1939 to 1945 as well as the broader history of the Second World War. The museum describes the period through three key themes: the Rise of Nazism; Resistance, Occupation, and Daily Wartime Life; and Internment, Ghettos, Deportation, and the Nuremberg Trials.

The Musée du Souvenir du Combattant (Museum of Combattants' Memory) in Chalon-sur-Saône is dedicated to the experiences, lives, and memory of French soldiers and combattants. In presenting this history, the museum notes, the goal is "the safeguarding of national heritage, and the preservation of national memory." 

The Centre Régional de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Castelnau-le-Lez (Castelnau-le-Lez Regional Centre for Resistance and Deportation) is a centre for research and learning on the local history of resistance and deportation in Castelnau-le-Lez. It is intended "to perpetuate the memory of resistance and deportation, especially among young people, and to serve as a pedagogical tool for public knowledge" of resistance and deportation during the Second World War.

The Musée de la Résistance de Castellane (Castellane Museum of Resistance) presents the history of resistance in the Castellane region during the Second World War. Initially located inside the territory of Vichy France before being fully occupied by German authorities in 1942, Castellane saw a variety of evolving resistance efforts.