Footsteps of WWII · Normandy
Memorial of Civilians in Wartime, Falaise
Museum · 1939–1945 (Falaise: Jun–Aug 1944)
The story
Falaise gave its name to the pocket in which the German armies were trapped in August 1944, and the town itself was largely destroyed by bombing and fighting before Canadian troops took it in mid-August. The Mémorial de Falaise stands on the site of a house destroyed in the 1944 bombing, in a building from the town's reconstruction, close to William the Conqueror's castle. Unlike most Normandy museums it tells the war from the point of view of civilians: occupation, shortages, bombing, evacuation and liberation, combining reconstructions made with the Caen Memorial and the memories of people who lived through it.
What to look for
Reconstructed scenes of civilian life under occupation and bombing, with film and personal testimony. Afterwards walk up to the castle; the rebuilt town centre around it shows how much of Falaise had to be rebuilt.
Plan your visit
Adult from about €8.50. Opening pattern varies by season and the site may close in winter; check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Montormel Memorial, Falaise Pocket · 26 km
- Hill 112, Esquay-Notre-Dame · 32 km
- Caen Memorial (Mémorial de Caen) · 36 km
- Pegasus Bridge and Memorial Pegasus · 39 km
- Merville Battery · 42 km
- Sword Beach and the Grand Bunker, Ouistreham · 44 km
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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.
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