Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Forges-les-Eaux

The Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Forges-les-Eaux (Forges-les-Eaux Museum of Resistance and Deportation) presents the history of resistance and deportation in the town and region during the Second World War.

Collections include military and civilian objects are assembled from both large private collections and individual donations and are presented in two major exhibition spaces, one on each floor of the two-story building. The ground floor space presents war, occupation, and resistance, and displays items including:

• French and German military uniforms, equipment, and weaponry, placed on museum mannequins.
• Written, photographic, and filmed records of French and Allied military combat both during the Battle of France (1940) and in other operations including the Battles of Narvik (1940) and the Dieppe Raid (1942).
• Administrative records, propaganda posters, and other documents created by both Vichy and German authorities during occupation.
• Objects representing daily civilian life under occupation, including ration tickets, bicycles, and clothing.
• Physical remnants of Allied aircraft which crashed during wartime missions in the region, including the American B-17 Flying Fortress and the British Spitfire, along with photographs and information on the pilots and crew; many of those who survived, the museum notes, were taken in by local resistance groups and smuggled back to England, thus becoming part of the local history.

The second floor of the museum is dedicated to the history of deportation in Normandy and Seine-Maritime, and the experiences and stories of local deportees. Photos of deported individuals and the deportation process are displayed alongside clothing worn in the camps at which they arrived and documents relating to deportation. Other physical artifacts include items made by those in camps, such as board games and Christmas cards. Written and recorded testimonies from both surviving local deportees and those who knew them, family and friends, are presented.      

The Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Forges-les-Eaux was inaugurated on June 1, 1986, originally installed within the Forges-les-Eaux town hall. It was later moved to its current location, and reopened in 2000. The museum is supported financially by the town of Forges-les-Eaux, and is administered by the surrounding départment of Seine-Maritime and the Association Départementale du Souvenir de la Résistance et de la Déportation et d'Histoire de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (Departmental Association of Memory of Resistance and Deportation and of the History of the Second World War). Its stated objective is “to maintain the memory of the French Resistance and deportation, particularly in Normandy and Seine-Maritime.”