Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté

The Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté (European Centre of the Deported Resistance Fighter) is a permanent historical exhibit, memorial, and centre for study and research on internment and deportation in France during the Second World War. The site is located within the preserved remains of the former Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp, which was operated by German authorities from May 1941 to September 1944, and has the distinction of being the only concentration camp constructed by German authorities within French territory. The site was employed as an internment and labour camp, a transit camp, and ultimately a death camp; one gas chamber was constructed. It is estimated that 52 000 individuals passed through Natzweiler-Struthof, while approximately 22 000 died there.  

Camp buildings, including the gas chamber, are preserved. The Mémorial aux Héros et Martyrs de la Déportation (Memorial to the Heroes and Martyrs of the Deportation) was inaugurated on the site by Charles de Gaulle on July 23, 1960; it contains soil and ashes from 14 different concentration camps, and serves as a national memorial to deportation. A National Cemetery (Nécropole Nationale) contains the remains of 1118 deportees from Natzweiler-Struthof.

The Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté was inaugurated on the site by President Jacques Chirac on November 3, 2005, and includes a permanent historical exhibit on the camp itself and the history of wartime internment and deportation in France. It continues to serve as a centre for research on deportation in France and Europe.