The Drancy Shoah Memorial is a place of mediation between the history of the Cité de la Muette and the public. Located opposite the former camp, it houses a permanent exhibition, documentation center, classrooms and auditorium.
Like the other levels, the permanent exhibition space has a wide bay window overlooking the Cité de la Muette. It focuses on the Drancy camp’s history, the lives of the people interned there from 1941 to 1944 and the deportations from the camp starting in 1942.
The exhibition is in French and English. An audioguide app visitors can download to their smartphones provides access to additional texts, some of which were added to the Shoah Memorial’s Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center’s catalogue after a 2007 collection drive. Following a call in the regional press to donate archives, many documents, letters, diaries, objects and photos of people interned at Drancy were collected and former internees’ testimonies recorded. Visitors can learn more about the fate of the Jews in their town or department at the documentation center, which is open to all. Drancy residents, schoolchildren and the general public can conduct research about the camp and people connected to the site. Testimonies are still being collected from Drancy residents in conjunction with local organizations.
This level, which was designed to accommodate groups, especially of schoolchildren, has modular rooms that can be configured into variously sized spaces with sliding walls. The classrooms host workshops created particularly for schoolchildren.
Like the other levels, the permanent exhibition space has a wide bay window overlooking the Cité de la Muette. Designed in cooperation with the Fluo agency, it focuses on the Drancy camp’s history, the people interned there from 1941 to 1944 and the deportations from 1942 onward. The exhibits feature documents acquired since 1945, items added after the 2007 collection drive and recent research in various archives and institutions in France and abroad conducted specifically in view of the Drancy Memorial’s opening. The exhibition is in French and English. An audioguide app visitors can download to their smartphones provides access to additional texts.
