The memorial was opened, by President Jacques Chirac, on 27 January 2005. This day was chosen to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.[3] The memorial underwent a major renovation in 2005, creating exhibition spaces, a multimedia center, and a reading room.
Areas of the memorial
Forecourt
The forecourt of the memorial above the memorial crypt, includes a circular memorial listing the names of the death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto. There is also a wall with seven bas-reliefs by Arbit Blatas that symbolize the camps and the persecution of the Jews.[2] The facade of the building, above the forecourt, has two inscriptions. First, a line from an adaptation of Deuteronomy 25:17 by Zalman Schnoeur (translated from Hebrew):[4]
Remember what Amalek did unto our generation, which exterminated 600 myriad bodies and souls even though there was no war.
Second, a quote from Justin Godart, Minister of Health and Honorary President of the Committee for the Unknown Jewish Martyr (translated from French):[4]
Before the unknown Jewish martyr, incline your head in piety and respect for all the martyrs; incline your thoughts to accompany them along their path of sorrow. They will lead you to the highest pinnacle of justice and truth.
Wall of Names
Several walls that make a passageway to the building list the names of the approximately 76,000 French Jews who were deported and murdered by the Nazis. They are listed alphabetically by year of deportation.[2]
Crypt
The crypt
The crypt predates the Mémorial de la Shoah; in 1957, the ashes of victims from the different death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto were buried in dirt from Israel. A door from the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp in France faces the tomb.
Jewish files
The "Jewish Files"
The Jewish files are located in a small room near the crypt. They were created by the Vichy government to identify Jewish citizens, and were later used by the Nazis to locate Jews for deportation.[2]
Exhibit rooms
The memorial's permanent exhibit documents the history of French Jews during the Holocaust. The materials on exhibit include photographs, text, and video and audio recordings.
The memorial also includes an auditorium, bookstore, multimedia learning center, documentation center, and the Room of Names (research room).[4]
The Wall of the Righteous
Since 1963, the Museum Memorial of Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) has awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations" to non-Jewish people who helped save Jews during the war. As of 2014, this wall lists 3,300 people, either French or acting in France, who have been awarded this title. The wall runs alongside of the memorial.[2]
Vandalism
In May 2024, the Wall of the Righteous was vandalised with red hand graffiti.[5] French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the vandalism as "odious anti-Semitism", and Paris authorities filed a criminal complaint.[5] A few suspects were arrested in the case.[6] Investigators were reportedly investigating whether the perpetrators of the vandalism did so at behest of somebody else, perhaps Russian security services.[7]
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