Musée Méindeg: Bastogne War Museum

Méindeg, 20 Juni.

Today's Musée Méindeg takes us outside of the Grand Duchy to the Bastogne War Museum. Located just across the Luxembourg-Belgium border, the museum is within easy driving distance of Luxembourg and makes for a popular day trip destination.

History buffs will surely recognize Bastogne for the strategic role it played in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge, an event that was immortalized in the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. (Haven't heard of it? Ask your dad.)

Just a few months after being liberated by Allied Forces, the town of Bastogne became the site of the one of the most dramatic events of World War II, when it was attacked by the Germans in December 1944 as part of Hitler's last-ditch attempt to recapture Antwerp and change the tide of the war. The siege lasted for a week, during which time the town -- and the small number of American soldiers defending it -- suffered many casualties. At one point during the Battle of Bastogne, German troops at succeeded in fully encircling the town and even gave the Americans the opportunity to surrender ... an offer to which General McAuliffe famously responded: "Nuts!" Ultimately, Patton's Third Army came to the relief of the exhausted forces: within a few weeks, the battle was won and the town of Bastogne re-liberated. Given the historical importance of the Battle of the Bulge, it's no wonder that Bastogne continues to be defined by its role in World War II.

Musée Méindeg: the Musée de Maquettes des Châteaux et Châteaux Forts du Luxembourg in Clervaux

Méindeg, 18 January.

Good morning and happy Monday! Today on the blog, I'll be introducing you to my new favorite museum in Luxembourg, the Musée de Maquettes des Châteaux et Châteaux Forts du Luxembourg. Located in Clervaux Castle in northern Luxembourg, this museum is home to twenty-two models of Luxembourgish castles and fortified castles.

The museum brochure promises "a travel through time and dimension for the whole family, for the history lover, and for all those with a passion for scale models!"

I'll let you chuckle over that for a moment.

In all seriousness, the museum is an impressive piece of work. Each castle is presented, often along with the surrounding village, at a precise 1:100 scale. In addition to the models themselves, posters provide information about the location, history, and current status of the castles.

Do you recognize Buerg Fiels, or Larochette Castle from my October 2015 visit?

Information about each of the castles is presented in French, German, English, and Dutch. ("That's sooo Luxembourgish.") However, the posters give the names of the castles first in Luxembourgish. As it is relatively rare to see Luxembourgish in writing, this wound up being one of my favorite parts of the entire museum!

For example, did you know that in Luxembourgish, Clervaux is actually Klierf? Or that the Château de Beaufort, which I've visited on two separate occasions, is more accurately known as the Buerg Beefort?

 

I've visited Beaufort Castle twice (in November 2013 and October 2015) and loved seeing the scale model!

Museum Tour: Mémorial de Caen

The historic city of Caen has unique ties to both French and English history. It was the 'hometown' of William the Conqueror, who built the Château de Caen in the mid-11th century, just a few years before leading the Norman invasion of England in 1066. In the fourteenth century, it also became a major part of the Hundred Years War, when the British invaded and captured the city.

Its 20th century "claim to fame" is the Battle for Caen, a two-month battle in the summer of 1944 that destroyed an estimated 70% of the city. Cae was rebuilt, however, and commemorated their role in World War II with a unique museum/memorial for peace.

 

Origins of the Memorial

The museum was opened on the 44th anniversary of D-Day -- June 6, 1988. It has since been expanded several times, most recently in 2002 to include an exposition on the Cold War. Nowadays, the museum houses several permanent expositions, including Guerre mondiale, guerre totale (Global War, Total War) and Le Débarquement et la Bataille de Normandie (the Debarkment and Battle of Normandy), as well as a variety of temporary expositions.

Because the museum covers SO much information, I'll stick to photographs of both!

The Permanent Expositions

 

This recreated wall displays Vichy propoganda as well as graffiti -- LAVAL AU POTEAU.

 

The Temporary Expositions

At the time of my visit, in July 2014, the first temporary exhibition was called "The 100 Objects of the Battle of Normandy." It featured, unsurprisingly, one hundred objects from the Battle of Normandy. Read about it here.

My favorite objects, though not featured here, were the items repurposed by French civilians. They included parachutes, turned into purses and children's clothing, and American fuel canisters. Apparently, the American government had to make a personal request for French civilians to return these fuel canisters so the GIs could use their tanks!

The second temporary exhibit, called "Shots of War," featured the photographs of Tony Vaccaro. Though he would later become famous for his portraits of celebrities (including Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren), during World War II he was only a 21-year-old foot soldier during World War II. Denied the privilege of serving as an official war photojournalist because of his youth, Vaccaro took over 8000 photos during his unit's trek from Brittany to Berlin.

Even now, his photos are raw and occasionally shocking. But most importantly, they are a real testimony to the life of an American soldier in post-D-Day Europe. Read more about this exhibit here.

The Package Deals

In addition to regular admission, the museum offers 'package deals' to its guests. These trips take visitors on guided tours to other key D-Day sites around the area, including Point du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and the Normandy American Cemetary. The trips, which cost anywhere from 39 to over 200 euros per person, range from a couple hours on a bus to all-inclusive overnight stays.

Click here to learn more about these day trips ... or keep scrolling to see pictures from my visit and learn what I thought of my guided tour! (I chose the "Guided Tour on the Anglo-American D-Day Landing Beaches by Coach," which you can read about here.)

The ground at Point du Hoc still shows its physical scars from D-Day.

The memorial at Omaha Beach.

The memorial and reflecting pool at the Normandy American Cemetary.

This unique 360-degree theatre provided great historical context for the events of D-Day.

So why should you book a circuit tour? Because the packages include the cost of admission to the museum AND because the guides are so personable and well-informed AND because it's so difficult to get to many of these sites without your own transportation AND because these sites are truly crucial to your understanding of the events of June 1944!

Reflection

The official website speaks about the museum's unique 'vocation' ...

With destruction wreaked across almost three quarters of this martyr city of the Liberation in the summer of 1944, Caen deserved a fitting tribute for the damage it suffered. And such a tribute was paid, but with the focus on what continues to be the Mémorial’s running theme: reconciliation... 

Between these two dates and between these two World Wars, some 60 millions people would lose their lives and the most hostile of political systems to the key principles of respecting life would plunge the world into the chaos and brutality that characterized the last century. We are all heirs to this century whose memory we must keep alive at all costs. The memory of the people who suffered, the memory of ideas and the memory of sacrifices to save us from “man’s inhumanity to man”.

It's a lofty goal, but one that doesn't feel entirely unachieved. The museum is thorough, with almost an exhausting amount of information, but it does not shirk away from the "chaos and brutality" of the era to which it is dedicated. Overall, however, the museum is surprisingly -- but fittingly -- peaceful. The atrium and hallways of the museum are filled with natural light that seems to remind visitors to the mémorial that the world has recovered from what was debatably its darkest period.

I really enjoyed my visit at the Mémorial de Caen, but I truly can't imagine what my day trip would have been like without taking the guided bus tour.

The museum provides an incredible wealth of information and historical context, but it took visiting the sites themselves to actually make the history come alive. It was unexpectedly sunny and warm during my trip, but I kept getting goose bumps ... as we looked out over the Point du Hoc, surveying the steep cliffs that over two hundred Rangers attempted to climb in the early morning of June 6, 1944 ... as we walked across the field, still pockmarked with the bomb holes made seventy years ago ... as we walked through a sea of innumerable white crosses at the American Cemetary ... and as we listened in silence to the playing of "Taps" by a lone bugle.

Plan Your Visit

ACCESSIBILITY . Caen is a short (approximately two-hour) train ride from Paris. Once you're in the city, the museum is accessible on foot (though it's a bit of a trek), by car, or via bus from the center of Caen. Note: if you arrive at the train station, you'll need to take a combination of bus and tram in order to get to/from the museum.

The museum itself is very modern and easily accessible by all guests. All exhibits are captioned in French, English, and German and there are elevators and ramps for wheelchair-bound visitors. The museum is large, however, and requires a good deal of walking!

AMENITIES. As it's located a bit outside of downtown Caen (and as the developers were likely looking to make a pretty penny), the museum has its own bookstore/souvenir shop, restaurant, snack shop, and childcare center. Although it will cost you an arm and a leg for a sandwich and cup of coffee, the convenience of the on-site cafeteria is worth the hassle.

TICKET PURCHASE. Museum tickets can be bought online or purchased at the museum. Some, but not all, package deals can be booked online. Packages not available for purchase online can be bought over the phone or via email, thanks to the museum's excellent customer service department.

MORE INFORMATION. The museum's official website offers a wealth of information in both French and English. The staff is also extremely responsive and helpful when contacted via email!

Museum Tour: Mémorial de la Shoah

Located just a stone's throw from Le Marais, Paris' traditionally Jewish quarter, is a quiet, unassuming building. Partially hidden behind steel bars, it's easy to miss. But those who have visited know that the Mémorial de la Shoah represents an important, if extremely unpleasant, period of French -- and, in fact, global -- history.

Origins of the Memorial

The site now known as le Mémorial de la Shoah began almost sixty years ago as the tombeau du martyr juif inconnu ("Tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr"). This monument, erected in 1956, was among the first of its kind and has since served as a model for other Holocaust memorials. Although the memorial was not constructed until a decade after the end of World War II, the seeds of the project were sewn in the early 1940s in the city of Grenoble, when French rabbi Isaac Schneersohn secretly founded the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine ("Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation"), with the purpose of accumulating information and personal testimonies. After the war, the CDJC moved to Paris and the tombeau du martyr juif inconnu was constructed. In 1997, it was decided that the two sites would be combined ... and the Mémorial de la Shoah was born.

If you're at all interested in the history of the memorial, I found a really great newspaper article from October 30, 1956, that documents the opening of the memorial. You can read the entire article (entitled "World Memorial for 6,000,000 Jewish Martyrs Dedicated in Paris") here.

"The World Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr, a symbol commemorating the six million European Jews exterminated by the Nazi regime, was formally dedicated here today ... More than 1,000 persons gathered at the site of the memorial, behind the Paris City Hall in the oldest part of the city, where Jews have been living continuously since the Middle Ages. 

... M. Godart declared that the 'memorial is not a call to hatred, for the crime itself will be its own eternal curse. It is rather a call never to permit the faith and spirit of any man to undergo a similar ordeal.'"

The Sites of Commemoration

Before reaching the permanent exhibits of the museum, visitors to the Mémorial first walk through several commemorative sites that made up the original site, called le tombeau du martyr juif inconnu. (If you'd like to learn more, you can read all about the various commemorative sites within the Mémorial here.) Unfortunately, some tents set up in the parvis prevented me from getting photos of the front of the museum ... so in order to give you a better sense of what this part of the memorial looks like, I've borrowed some from around the internet!

The parvis, where ceremonies related to the Shoah often take place, is featured in the photo below. To the left, you can see the massive bronze column on which are inscribed the names of all the Nazi death camps. To the right, you can catch a glimpse of the bas-relief sculptures depicting scenes of Jewish persecution, which were added to the memorial in the 1980s.

In the back of the photo is the fourteen-meter stone pediment that makes up the facade of the building. You can't see it in this photo, but the wall features inscriptions in Hebrew and French. The Hebrew citation is a quotation adapted from Deuteronomy by a famous Jewish poet; it reads: "Remember what Amalek did unto our Generation exterminating 600 myriad bodies and souls, in the absence of war." The French citation belongs to Justin Godard, the Honorary President of the Committee for the Unknown Jewish Martyr; it translates to: "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."

To the left of all this is le Mur des noms, or Wall of Names. Constructed in 2004 during the renovation of the site, it features the names of the approximately 76,000 French Jews deported during World War II. Names are listed alphabetically and organized by the year of deportation.

After passing through the Wall of Names, visitors finally enter the building itself. The first stop, before entering the museum exhibits, is the crypt. It is located just under the parvis and is also a frequent location for commemorative events.

These photos show a relatively well-lit room, but during my visit, the crypt was dark, chilly, and eerily quiet. An eternal flame -- called ner tamid in Hebrew -- burns in the center of a black marble tombstone, shaped like the Star of David. The flame is encircled by six cylindrical urns; each contains ashes, collected from the death camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Mauthausen) as well as the Warsaw Ghetto. The ashes, which are buried in dirt taken from Israel, were installed in the crypt in 1957. On the back wall, written in Hebrew: "Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow. Young and old, our sons and daughters were cut down by the sword."

Just past the crypt is the fichier juif. This room, whose contents are on permanent loan to the museum from the Archives Nationales, contains all the remaining police files compiled by the Vichy government between 1941 and 1944. The plaques on the wall are not shy in reminding visitors that it was not just the Nazis, but also the fonctionnaires du gouvernement de Vichy, who compiled these documents and sent 80,000 French Jews to their deaths.

 

The Permanent Exposition

The permanent exhibition, located below the crypt in the building's sub-basement, is a new addition to the Mémorial. The permanent exposition opens with a brief explanation of Judaism and a history of antisemitism in Europe. A short video (presented, like all of the museum's videos, in French without subtitles) traces the origins of antisemitism and negative Jewish stereotypes.

Although the permanent exhibition includes information about the persecution of Jews throughout Europe, it does focus in particular detail on the treatment of Jews in France.

The picture on the left features photos and documents related to the exclusion of Jews and the creation of the first internment camps in France. In the picture on the right, photos display examples of French antisemitism, propagated by both the Germans and the Vichy government. (You can click on the photos to enlarge them, although I can't promise great quality.)

Given my research focus on museums and memory, I found the top photo particularly interesting. The photo depicts a 1941 exposition held at the Palais Berlitz called Le Juif et la France. (You can see a larger, color version of the poster in the photo here. Our tour guide explained some of the artist's subtle techniques, like the contrasting font choice used for "LE JUIF" and "LA FRANCE.") The exhibit was financed by the German occupation, who wanted to deepen existing antisemitic sentiment in France. It was inspired by the "scientific" "research" of George Montandon, a French "anthropologist." (Is my skepticism evident enough...?) Montandon had previously published a pamphlet that claimed to explain Comment reconnaître le Juif ? ("How to recognize a Jew?") and it was this racist, pseudo-scientific theme that the exhibit embraced. In case you were wondering, the exhibit was a big hit in Paris ... more than 250,000 people visited it within a few months.

The exhibition addresses a variety of other topics, from the fate of French Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau to the pillaging of their belongings by the Germans and French alike (covered in the photo, below on the left) to the stories of Jewish children hidden during the war.

 

One particularly interesting section addresses the role of the Resistance in the fate of France's Jews, explaining that "pour tous les résistants, la priorité est de concentrer ses forces pour abattre l'Allemagne nazie et libérer la France et les Francais. L'indignation et la répobration face a la persecution des Juifs se lisent rarement ou occupent une place mineure dans la presse clandestine de la Résistance." ("For all Resistants, the priority was to concentrate their forces on the fight against Nazi Germany and to liberate France and the French. Indignation against the persecution of Jews was rarely found, or occupied a minor place, in the Resistance clandestine press.")

The section also addresses the Jews who participated in clandestine or resistant activities, reminding visitors that for every day they survived, Jewish concentration camp prisoners committed an act of resistance.

I was particularly moved by the section of the exhibit dedicated to les Justes parmi les Nations. Known as the Righteous Among the Nations in English (or the חסידי אומות העולם in Hebrew, in case that clears things up for you), these people are non-Jews who have been recognized by the State of Israel for their actions during the Holocaust. With 3,654 such awards, France is among the most-recognized countries. (However, our guide estimated that these represent less than twenty-five percent of the total number of French citizens whose actions merited the title.) The museum includes video interviews with nearly a dozen now-elderly French men and women, all of whom risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. Listening to their stories, and reading about other such men and women around Europe, I found myself close to tears a couple of times. I always find myself asking, "Would I have been able to do that? Would I have been willing to do the right thing, if it meant taking such a great risk?"

Unfortunately, the permanent exposition ends on a particularly heartbreaking note. A back-lit features photos of the Shoah's youngest victims, the deported (and, in almost all cases, murdered) children. There are two many faces to count...

My tour group was informed by our guide that, since the opening of the exposition, photos and information about approximately a thousand more children have surfaced and been added. However, the current display -- which features four thousand photos -- still only represents ONE THIRD of the victims.

Our guide also pointed out that, at this point in the museum, the false ceiling recedes, revealing an unexpected expanse of bare wall. This space, he told us, is for the other children. Museum curators know that they will never be able to track down photos of every Jewish child deported from France; in many cases, their fates are uncertain. (Nazi concentration camp officials did not record the arrival, nor the ultimate fate, of those deportees deemed "unfit for labor" -- a category that included all children under fifteen.) However, this poignant feature ensures that their absence does not go unnoticed.

Reflection

While I don't consider myself desensitized to the violence and horror of WWII and the Holocaust, I have been to a lot of museums. I've read first-hand accounts, listened to dozens of témoignages, and seen truly shocking photos and videos. Some of it has been repetitive; some of it has made me sick to my stomach. All that being said, I really wasn't sure what to expect from the Mémorial de la Shoah.

The site itself exceeded any and all of my expectations. I found the museum to be extremely informative and detailed, while remaining well-organized and accessible to all visitors. Most of all, I appreciated the show of restraint. The site has access to an incredible wealth of information -- photos, videos, documents -- and I am sure that they could fill rooms with stomach-turning depictions of violence and brutality. But that really isn't necessary ... not here, at least. This is not, as Justin Godart explained nearly sixty years ago at the site's dedication, "a call to hatred." Here, there are more powerful reminders of what was lost. The dark crypt in whose silence echoes peerless sorrow. The wall with its seemingly never-ending list of names. And, of course, the collection of photos -- of smiling, innocent, unknowing faces -- that will never, that can never be completed.

Plan Your Visit

ACCESSIBILITY. Situated just across the river from Notre-Dame and literally a stone's throw from the Hôtel de Ville, the Mémorial de la Shoah truly could not be more conveniently located. The building tends to blend into its surroundings, but is easy enough to find if you know where you're going!

The museum is closed on Saturdays and on some religious holidays. In addition to free daily admission, the museum offers free weekly tours in French (every Sunday at 15:00) and monthly tours in English. Visitors have access to permanent and temporary exhibitions and can also visit the site's center of documentation and library, which holds the world's largest collection of Holocaust-related literature. With the exception of the brief video clips, all of the museums' photos and exhibits are captioned in both French and English.

LE MEMORIAL DE LA SHOAH A DRANCY. Opened in 2012, this new center of education and remembrance is located at the site of one of France's most notorious internment camps. Intended before the war to be used as a modern housing project, the Cité de la Muette would become Drancy, an internment camp through which passed approximately 63,000 of the 78,000 Jews deported from France during World War II. The new memorial is accessible through public transport, but visitors can also benefit from a free shuttle to and from the site on Sunday afternoons. Find about more about the Memorial de la Shoah a Drancy here. You can also click here to find practical information and plan your visit.

MORE INFORMATION. The museum's official website offers a wealth of information in both French and English.