The mission of the Shoah Memorial

Research and documentation

The Shoah Memorial houses a documentation centre divided into three departments: archives, library and photo library. This archive, made up of nearly 50 million documents, photos, books, archival films, posters, postcards and even objects is open to everyone, from the researcher to the student, who can come and consult archives on site in a unique space for information and the transmission of knowledge about the Shoah and, in particular, about the history of the Jews of France during the Second World War. Regularly enriched since the creation of the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in 1943 by donations and acquisitions of documents from witnesses of the Shoah, it constitutes a unique archive and a first-rate instrument to study the destruction of European Jews.

Since January 2017, Ms. Karen Taieb, head of the archives at the Shoah Memorial, has been a member of the scientific committee on the Second World War established by the National Archives in February 2016. The objective of this scientific committee is to ensure the application of the decree of 24 December 2015 on the opening of the archives of the Second World War; it brings together researchers and archivists and reviews the situation of the various archive centers.

The museum: Exhibitions and cultural activities

The Musée du Mémorial de la Shoah has a permanent exhibition: a chronological and thematic journey consisting of twelve sequences that retraces the history of the Jews of France during the Holocaust. This exhibition, based on the archives of the Documentation Center, proposes a back and forth between individual history and collective history. In addition to this permanent exhibition, the museum presents each year temporary exhibitions that draw their themes from history, art and literature. They are open windows on the fate of the Jews in other European countries but also on the other genocides of the twentieth century.

Educational activities and training actions

The Shoah Memorial leads awareness-raising actions towards the young audiences for several years. Faced with the alarming rise of racism and antisemitism, the Memorial wishes to intensify his pedagogical activity and in particular to carry out this action beyond its walls. The educational offer has therefore been expanded and offers more inter-museum courses, training sessions in the provinces, educational workshops and relocated exhibitions and trips to places of remembrance for schools, as well as a program adapted to the preparation of the CNRD. Since 2016, the History and Memories convention signed with the DILCRA makes it possible to develop the Memorial’s actions aimed at young people in order to reduce fears and hatred.
The Memorial also welcomes police officers having just completed their training in order to complete their historical knowledge of the history of the Shoah and the role of the police during this period.

Citizenship internships

As part of the development of alternative measures and sentences with a pedagogical value, the Memorial has established partnership agreements with the appeal courts of Paris, Lyon, and Aix-en-Provence. In this context, it has developed a citizenship course for perpetrators of racist or anti-Semitic offences.

Learn more

Activities outside the walls

More than ever, the Shoah Memorial extends its activity and its work of prevention of racism, antisemitism and genocides beyond its walls. Exhibitions, meetings, screenings: the province takes advantage of part of the Memorial’s programming in many cities and educational teams travel to lead workshops at the institutions. Internationally, the Memorial also makes some of its exhibitions travel and organizes training actions and seminars for teachers and students in order to carry out preventive work against racism, hatred and genocide.

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Reception of the families of victims

The children, grandchildren and relatives of the victims of the Shoah can be accompanied and helped in their search for information, whether it is to find a relative from the lists of Jews deported from France or to document a compensation claim file. People wishing to provide information or give archives can also contact directly the Memorial, which also travels to the provinces for archive collections.

Speaking group

The Shoah Memorial welcomes the Georges Devereux Center who organizes, one Sunday a month, a meeting of a group of former children hidden during the Holocaust.
This discussion group is led by psychologists from the Georges Devereux Center, with the support of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah.
Upcoming appointments : Sundays 12 January, 9 February, 22 March, 5 April, 24 May and 14 June 2020 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Free, without reservation)

Information:
Georges Devereux Center
Tel.: 01 77 32 10 64 or by email: contact@memorialdelashoah.org

Trips to places of memory

Every year, the Shoah Memorial organizes study trips to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland open to all, school groups as well as individuals. The Memorial also provides help and advice to set up, on request, projects towards all the places of memory of the Shoah, in France and abroad.

The network of places of memory of the Shoah in France

Since March 2015, the Network of Sites of Memory of the Shoah in France brings together eleven institutions attached to a historical site and linked to the history and memory of persecution, deportation, extermination, the rescue or resistance of French Jews during the Second World War. Encouraging the development of links between its members, the Network aims to promote knowledge and transmission of the history of the Shoah at both national and local levels, contributing to the affirmation of republican and democratic values, notably in the fight against all forms of racism and anti-Semitism. The Network relies in particular on young ambassadors of memory. Since 2010, the eleven institutions have been meeting on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity Day on 27 January. In May 2017, Mont Valérien and the Deportation Martyrs' Memorial joined the Network of Shoah Memorials, which now has 13 partner institutions.

See the Network website

Scientific journal

The edition of the Revue d'histoire de la Shoah constitutes the emerging part of the research activity within the Memorial. Created in 1946, the journal deals with the history of the genocide of the Jews by Hitler’s Germany and the reflection it provokes in different cultural fields. It also opens its study to the other genocides of the twentieth century. The editorial activity of the Memorial has extended to the publication of historical works for the general public in partnership with the Calmann-Levy publishing house.

Operating budget

Many people and institutions support the Memorial in its mission, by contributing their know-how, expertise, time or even financial assistance. May they all be warmly thanked.

Below is the operating budget extracted from the moral report of the Shoah Memorial.