Footsteps of WWII · Paris, Champagne & Alsace
Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris
Memorial · 1942–1944
The story
Around 76,000 Jews were deported from France between 1942 and 1944, the great majority to Auschwitz, with the help of the Vichy authorities and French police; few returned. The Mémorial de la Shoah in the Marais, formerly the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyr, reopened in its present form on 27 January 2005, inaugurated by President Jacques Chirac. It combines a museum, archive and memorial. The crypt holds ashes from the death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto, buried in 1957 in soil from Israel.
What to look for
In the forecourt, the Wall of Names lists about 76,000 deported Jews by year of deportation. Outside, the Wall of the Righteous honours those recognised by Yad Vashem for saving Jews in France. Inside are the crypt, the permanent exhibition and a room of photographs of deported children.
Plan your visit
Not verified in October 2026 (official site unreachable). Entry has been free, with a security check at the door; closed on Saturdays and some Jewish holidays. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Musée de la Libération de Paris – Leclerc – Jean Moulin · 3 km
- Mont-Valérien memorial, Suresnes · 11 km
- Glade of the Armistice, Compiègne · 75 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
Open the guide