Musée Départmental de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lorris

The Musée Départmental de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lorris (Lorris Departmental Museum of Resistance and Deportation) presents the history of resistance and deportation in the Loiret départment during the Second World War.

A permanent exhibition contains wartime artifacts – weapons, uniforms, and military equipment; civilian clothing and objects of daily life; print media, photographs, and posters – collected and donated almost entirely from locals; these items testify to local experiences of occupation, resistance, and deportation. This is joined by yearly temporary exhibitions, often during summer, which present a deeper look at specific aspects of wartime France and Loiret: the most recent, ‘Lutetia, 1945: Return of the Deportees’ (2016), explored the return of surviving deportees from German concentration camps to France and the region.      

The museum was conceived in the 1980s as a place of memory for resistance and deportation, supported by local volunteer groups and the Departmental Council of Loiret including the council’s president, Kléber Malécot. The former train station in Lorris was chosen for the location, and a second building was erected in 1987-88 along with gardens and a memorial to those locals who died in resistance or deportation. The museum was inaugurated on June 18, 1988, and was operated by local volunteers including former resistance members and deportees. In 2008, administration of the site was passed to the Departmental Council of Loiret.