This exhibition aims to report and illustrate the role of diplomats in the situation of Jews from 1938 (the year of the Evian Conference and the Crystal Night) until the end of the Second World War. Thanks to the diplomatic documents that have been preserved and to some testimonies that historians have been able to gather, we discover a world of attentive and experienced observers, while the war is upsetting Europe.
Based on photos, official texts, written and oral testimonies, the exhibition will provide an update on the state of knowledge regarding these issues: What did diplomats know? What were their sources? Who acted? How, why, in what context? Conversely, who did not understand, who did not act and why? Is it out of ignorance, out of inability to understand the extent of the tragedy, out of indifference, out of willingness to collaborate?
The exhibition will focus on the articulation between what diplomats knew and what they and their governments could, did or chose not to do. Finally, it will invite visitors to reflect on the lessons that can be learned from this period, in particular on the difficult question of interference or the creation of international bodies (UN).
Exhibition curators: André Kaspi, Claire Mouradian, Catherine Nicault and Jean-Marc Dreyfus, historians.
Discover the dedicated website
The Shoah Memorial offers a series of conferences and meetings around the exhibition starting in February 2022.
Free entrance, 1st floor
