Location: Drancy, France.

Architect: Diener & Diener.

The Shoah Memorial at Drancy was inaugurated in September 2012, 70 years after the start of the deportation of Jews from France to Nazi extermination camps. The memorial is located opposite the Cité de la Muette, which was used as an internment and regroupment camp for Jews in preparation for their deportation. The memorial was designed by Swiss architect Roger Diener and is made up of five levels, including a permanent exhibition that retraces the history and function of the camp. The memorial complements the Shoah Memorial in Paris and serves as a place for mediation between the site of the former camp and the public. It allows students and the general public to learn more about the history of the Cité de la Muette and the central role of the Drancy camp in the exclusion of Jews during the Second World War and the implementation of the “Final Solution” by the Nazis in France, with the complicity of the Vichy government.

Photo credit: Yohan Zerdoun.