World War II & the Holocaust in France

On the edge of the Forest of Compiègne is the location where the Armistice that brought an end to the Great War was signed in 1918, and another signed on 22 June 1940 between the Germans and French following the German occupation of France. The memorial site comprises the Armistice Glade and the Memorial Museum. A series of displays traces the development of the site from the end of WW1 to early WW2. The original carriage was destroyed in 1945 in Berlin, now visitors get to see a near identical carriage, that has been staged for the signing of the first Armistice.

At the tip of Pointe de Penhir, the Germans built a bunker system on the remains of an old French military fort. Known as the Kerbonn Battery, the museum is situated in one of the bunkers. A small museum, the Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de l’Atlantique de Camaret tells the story of the Battle of the Atlantic, for which this part of France with its naval bases at Brest and Lorient played an important role. Photographs and maps track the losses at see of both civilian and military ships. The museum is a tribute to the many sailors who lost their lives at sea during WWII.

The Plouharnel dunes still have over 80 concrete structures from when the area was developed as part of the Atlantic Wall in 1941. It took over two years to build, with some 2,000 people used as labourers, including prisoners of war, locals and deportees. Included in the facility were three 340 mm railway guns, a 14 m high fire control post, close combat bunkers and ammunition bunkers – serviced by over 700 soldiers. Built to prevent Allies landing, it also served to defend the important submarine base in Lorient. One of the biggest and most powerful batteries on the Atlantic Wall, it was visited by Field Marshal Rommel on 13 March 1944.

On a promontory of the Crozon peninsular is the Cross of Pen-Hir. A large memorial dedicated to the Free French Bretons who founded the resistance association Sao Breiz in Great Britain during WWII. The monument, created by the architect Jean-Baptiste Mathon and the sculptor Victor-François Bazin between 1949 and 1951, was inaugurated by General Charles de Gaulle in 1960. The Pointe of Pen-Hir is one of Brittany’s greatest coastal natural attractions. The cliffs here are about 70 m high.

Construction of the fort was ordered by the French king Charles VII following the defeat of the English at the end of the 100 Years War. Over the centuries the fort served as a garrison for royal troops, a ducal palace, a refuge for protestants and tax collectors and as a prison. During World War II political prisoners and Jews were imprisoned here until being shot or sent to the death camps in eastern Europe. The fort ceased being a prison in 1969.

In the town of Beaurains, on the edge of Arras, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has their principal workshop, from where British and Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials around the world are maintained. In the Visitor Centre, open to all, free of charge, a series of permanent exhibits explore every facet of the work of the CWGC, from finding bodies who fell during the two World Wars, to the caring for individual gravestones in cemeteries around the world. As well as the exhibits, windows on the workshops allow visitors to see craftspeople performing their work.

The Blockhaus d’Éperlecques was built by Nazi Germany between March 1943 and July 1944 intended to launch V-2 ballistic missiles from France to London. The bunker was built using prisoners of war and other forced labour. It was designed to launch 36 missiles per day. Aerial attacks from the Allies meant the construction was disrupted and it was never completed to be used for launching missiles. Éperlecques was captured from the Germans in September 1944, but it was not until much later was the true purpose of the bunker revealed. An interesting audio tour guides visitors on a present path through the facility.

Located on a strategic isle at the entrance to the Brest Strait, the first military facility was built in 1694/5. The badly damaged fort we see today was built in the mid 1800s, based on plans approved by Vauban himself, and modified and adapted over the decades since. The fort was badly destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII. When the Americans liberated the port city of Brest, the German Commander there, Ramcke took refuge in the fort. And it was here that he capitulated on 19 September 1944, notoriously asking asked the lower-ranking American Canham to show his credentials. Pointing to his soldiers, he replied “These are my credentials.”

At the very tip of the Pointe de Penhir is a substantial German Battery. It was built on the remains of a French military fort dating to 1890, which was itself constructed on an earlier Vauban fort. The difference between the French constructions and the WWII structures is very clear – stone was used by the French and concrete by the Germans. Four gun emplacements were constructed, only three remain. The battery also had a medical shelter. Some of the facilities were heavily destroyed during Allied bombing raids.

Lorient was occupied by German forces in June 1940. Admiral Karl Dönitz was eager to have his submarines based in France, closer to the Atlantic than at their bases in Germany. By the summer U-Boats were stationed in Lorient. Construction on various parts of the based commenced immediately, and continued until the summer of 1943. Despite many bombing campaigns by the Allies, no U-Boat was damaged. The impregnable base was a final stronghold for the Germans, who only surrendered two days after the official end of the war, on 10 May 1945. Today it is possible to take guided tours of parts of the base.

Known locally as ‘le Char Jeanne d’Arc’, the M4 Sherman tank commemorates the conflict that took place on the hill in front of Notre-Dame de la Garde between 25 and 26 August, 1944. Next to the tank is a memorial to 4,300 named Moroccan goumiers who died in service to France during WWI, WWII and other interwar conflicts. Some of these men led the assault to liberate Marseille from the Germans. During the street fighting, the tank was hit by a German hand grenade, killing the three American soldiers inside the vehicle.

The Musée de la Résistance en Morvan was founded in 1983 by a group of academics from the University of Burgundy and members of the French Resistance. Period documents, photographs and contemporary artefacts are used to explore three themes: the occupation of France, the French Resistance, the Liberation of France, and remembrance. From the museum it is possible to follow ‘Routes of Memory’, that take visitors to various historical points of interest in the area.

In a bunker of the Graf Spee naval artillery battery command post two brothers have created a well reviewed WWII museum that focusses on the memories of our forefathers. Through the use of interactive displays, documents, photographs and artefacts from the period, visitors of all ages are immersed into this dark period – the history of Brittany and what life was like in the bunker. Only 10% of the bunker with its five levels is above ground. This was a garrison for 25 soldiers, defending Brest harbour. As one of the largest bunkers in the area, its calibre and size made it one of the most powerful battery in the Finistère Départment. Allow for an hour and a half for your visit.

Himmler, as head of the SS, ordered the construction of the concentration camp near Natzweiler to exploit a vein of pink granite. The camp opened in May 1941, with the first internees forced to construct the infrastructure. Granite quarrying did not start until March 1942. By 1945, over 52,000 people from 30 countries passed through the camp, 17,000 of which died. Besides the camp and the quarrying, an experimental gas chamber was built. Today visitors can take a tour of the various features of the camp, as well as the exhibitions in the European Centre of Deported Resistance Members

Oradour-sur-Glane is a small town in the centre of France where, on 10 June 1944, the Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Das Reich unexpectedly entered what was then a village with little over 650 inhabitants, rounded up all who were present at the time, massacred them, looted the houses and shops and then set fire to the town before continuing on their way north to join other German troops defending their position in Normandy. Only one person survived the attack, 64 were killed. With minimal intervention, the village has been left as a memorial ever since.