Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation 

The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, behind Notre-Dame on Île de la Cité, is a sober tribute to over 200,000 people deported from France to Nazi camps. You descend a staircase into a silent crypt, where 200,000 glass rods symbolize the victims.

The claustrophobic atmosphere reminds visitors of the horrors of deportation. In the rotunda, urns contain soil and ashes from the camps. Quotes from poets and resistance fighters line the walls.

As you leave, you read: “Forgive, but never forget.” Although some criticize the memorial for not focusing enough on the suffering of Jews, it remains a powerful site of reflection and remembrance for one of history’s darkest chapters.