A look back on the days of memory

Between 4 and 7 April 2024, Maison d‘Izieu welcomed over 2000 visitors, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the roundup of 6 April 1944.

Around the former children of Izieu, there were many different tributes: some playful, sung or through dance, others silent and solemn.

The visit of French President Emmanuel Macron shows the recognition for the work of memory, accomplished by many people throughout all these years.

Relive the days of memory through photos, videos and through articles and media coverage.

Thursday, 4 April 2024

This first day of memory was dedicated to visual and audio-visual arts, with the teams of France 3 Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes and France Bleu Isère, relocating their broadcasts to cover the first day at the Maison d’Izieu.

 

A first moment of commemoration was organised with a speech by Laurent Wauquiez, president of the region Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes and the testimonial of Diane-Fenster-Popowski, a former child of Izieu.

The children and teenagers of the European project WiM Laboratories Iuvenis II expressed their tributes in their native languages. Their text can be downloaded here.

 

Another part of the first day was the inauguration of the temporary exhibition “They were children”, which can be discovered up to 22 September 2024.

 

The winner of the Prix Maison d’Izieu were announced. The prize rewards the best video created on the topic of “Letters and drawings from refugee children in conflicts, past and present”. The school students reflect on the consequences of conflicts of which children were victims in the past and still are today. You can watch a replay of the ceremony on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLv5ElxG55I&t=668s

 

The ceremony was followed by a preview of the documentary on the children of Izieu, which can now be watched (in French): https://www.leprogres.fr/societe/2024/04/05/notre-documentaire-evenement-les-enfants-d-izieu

 

The day ended with the preview of the documentary film ‘Sabine Zlatin or the impossible forgetting’, directed by Daniel Cling and produced by ‘Un film à la patte’, in collaboration with France 3 Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes. The documentary will be broadcasted on France 3 Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes on 18 April, 10:45pm.

 

NB: The views and arguments expressed in this film are those of the directors and producers. They in no way commit Maison d’Izieu.

Replay of the commemoration

Photos

Friday 5 April 2024

The second day was dedicated to literature.

The illustrators and authors Gilles Rapaport, Giulio Salvadori, Samuel Pintel and Rolande Causse (via video call) were present to lead workshops with students from Lycée Saint-Marie de la Roche sur Foron.

They were all there, along with Dominique Vidaud, Alexandre Nugues-Bourchat and Stéphanie Boissard, for the evening’s literary encounters, attended by around a hundred people.

A short commemorative moment also punctuated this second day of memory.

Replay of the commemoration

Photos

Saturday 6 April 2024

The third day, on the date of the sad 80 year anniversary of the round-up of the children and adults of Izieu, was dedicated to music. To this occasion, a large number of people attended the commemoration to pay tribute to them.

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media of the German Federal Government, honoured us with her presence on this very special day and spoke at the ceremony. You can download her speech (in French) here and see the strength of her speech.

All day long, visitors were able to freely discover the House and the Museum, guided by mediators who were able to answer their questions.

The day ended with a musical tribute concert by the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, conducted by Pieter-Jelle de Boer.
7 classical works were played, along with extracts from the speech given by Gaston Lavoille, Director of the Collège moderne de Belley, on 7 April 1946.

 

Replay of the commemoration

Photos

Sunday 7 April 2024

On this last day, the Maison d’Izieu welcomed over a thousand visitors and received a distinguished guest: the third President of the French Republic since the creation of the memorial museum, 30 years ago.

A large-scale commemoration in the presence of former children of Izieu to mark the 80th anniversary of the roundup of children and adults from the Izieu home and the 30th anniversary of the memorial museum took place, punctuated by the music of the military band.

Many officials and elected representatives took the floor. Hélène Waysenson, a former child of Izieu, also spoke.

The commemoration was followed by two very beautiful shows in tribute to the children of Izieu: the Wim Laboratories Iuvenis II performance by the company Procédé Zèbre et les jeunes européens, and the performance show ‘Les Enfants d’Izieu’ combining poetry, music and drawings, based on a text by Rolande Causse, with Pascale Blaison, Gilles Rapaport, Lionel Belmondo and Laurent Fickelson.

Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic visited the house, talked to former children from Izieu and several members of the association, before meeting members of the public, making it an unforgettable day, especially for the youngest members of the public.

Replay of the commemoration

Photos

Commemoration and inauguration of the “Wall against oblivion” at the Maison d’Izieu

Friday 26 January 2024

On the International Day of Holocaust Remembrance and of Prevention of Crimes against Humanity, the Maison d’Izieu organised a commemorative ceremony.

Initiated by the European ministers of education in 2002, this day was officially proclaimed International Day of Remembrance of Holocaust victims in 2005 by the United Nations general assembly. One of its aims is to teach young people to “be vigilant, to defend democratic values and to fight intolerance”. This symbolic date corresponds to the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp on 27 January 1945.
Every year, a tribute is paid to the 44 children and 7 educators of the House, victims of the roundup of 6 April 1944 before their deportation and particularly to Léa Feldblum, 25-years-old at the time, who was the only one to survive.

This year’s ceremony was animated by the students of the Lycée du Val de Saône from Trévoux. They payed tribute to all of the adults of the home, not only the ones deported, but also those who survived and helped rescuing over 60 children. With a succession of ‘I am…’ phrases, they brought each of them back to life.

Program

Opening of the commemoration ceremony
Alexandre Nugues-Bourchat, Mediation and Education manager at the Maison d’Izieu

Official speeches
Thierry Philip, President of the association Maison d’Izieu
Marilyne Rémer, Academy inspector, academic Director for national Education in the Ain department

Tribute, reading of the names, laying of the roses
By the students of the Lycée Val de Saône de Trévoux

Minute of silence

 

Rewatch the ceremony

The ceremony was followed by the opening of the ‘Wall against oblivion’ exhibition, a European Rememchild project.

REMEMCHILD aims to retrace the trajectories, experiences and memories of children in wartime, with a particular focus on the Second World War and the immediate post-war period, in Western and Eastern Europe, in countries that were occupied and/or collaborated with and then liberated by the Allies.
The aim of this project is to create a ‘Wall against oblivion’ and to participate in a digital platform run by the University of Madrid and the Guernica Peace Museum.

Three classes, supervised by their History-Geography, Literature, Italian and Visual Arts teachers, created the works exhibited in the orchard of the Maison d’Izieu:

  • • the 4th class 6 from Collège Sabine Zlatin in Belley
    • the Arts Focus class from Lycée du Bugey in Belley
    • the vehicule maintenance classes from Lycée professionnel François Cevert in Écully

They were supervised by Chloé Colin, photography artist and vidographer from the association BLICK Photographie, and by Roman Kroke, interdisciplinary artist and member of the Scientific Council of the Maison d’Izieu.

Two other “Walls”, created by Italian and Spanish students, are revealed at the Fondation Fossoli (Italy) and the Guernica Peace Museum (Spain).

 

Speeches

Cyrielle Forses, Project manager at the Maison d’Izieu
Iratxe Momoitio, Director of the Guernica Peace Museum
Cyrille Mangin, Director of the Collège Sabine Zlatin
Roman Kroke, artist
The students of the Lycée François Cevert
The students of the Lycée du Bugey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snacks were offered to the students after the presentation of their work.
Thanks to Brioche Pasquier for supplying the pitch-pastries

Rewatch the inauguration

Look back in photos

Franco-German project: Fake News do not make History

New (digital) learning spaces for Franco-German remembrance work

 

Our societies experience a radical transformation of the media, from which populist and right wing parties profit to distort current events as well as historical facts. Through Fake News, hate speech or echo chambers, they especially use digital platforms to share conspiracy theories, discriminatory statements or to deny historical facts.

Places of remembrance and historical museums in France and Germany have a vast experience in using tools and contents for civic, historic and political education. The main goal is to convey a critical image of history and of national socialism in particular.
But what approaches can museums and remembrance sites use to be heard in this new world of media and to fight against dangerous populist reinterpretations of history? Which methods and concepts can be promising to identify and fight against discrimination and antisemitism on the internet? And how can these methods be applied in the pedagogical work of universities and museums in France, Germany and all over the world?

The answers to these questions are at the heart of our Franco-German project “Fake News do not make History”.

 

Franco-German study trip

The Maison d’Izieu co-organises, in cooperation with the Goethe Institute and the CIERA (Interdisciplinary Centre for Studies and Research about Germany) a Franco-German study trip: “Fake News do not make History” on the topics of “Fake News and historical revisionism”

From 23 to 27 October, 20 young mediators and students of history, social or political sciences will get the chance to discover sites of remembrance in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Izieu and Lyon and to meet experts of historical-political education, History, media sciences and journalism from both countries.

The trip includes workshops and peer-coaching sessions organised around 3 themed modules:

“Module 1 – Understanding historical revisionism” with Richard Siegert

“Module 2 – Learning from media experts” with Benjamin Brillaud alias NotaBene and Hanna Klimpe

“Module 3 – Expanding the museum space” with Laurent Bigot.

After the study trip, the participants will develop a tool kit against Fake News, in paper and video format, which will be shared with all people interested in questions related to the topic.

The experts participating in the study trip are Solveig Hennebert, Richard Siegert, Benjamin Brillaud alias Nota Bene, Hanna Klimpe, Veerle Vanden Daelen and Laurent Bigot.

DOWNLOAD THE TOOL KIT


Day at the Maison d’Izieu

On Wednesday, 25 October 2023, the participants were at the Maison d’Izieu.

On the agenda were:

  • Visit of the House and the exhibitions
  • Exchange with Cassandra Babouri, mediator and co-organiser of the study trip for the Maison d’Izieu and with Dominique Vidaud, director of the Maison d’Izieu
  • Presentation by Hanna Klimpe, Professor for social media at the Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW Hamburg)
  • Talk with NotaBene, History YouTuber

Look back in photos

Online conferences

Two online conferences open for all were organised during the project:

Wednesday 18 october the first online conference was held on: « Historical revisionism in current political debates in Germany, France and Italy »

Thursday 26 october a second online conference was held on : « Facing the dangers of disinformation »

 

Partners

Goethe Institute Lyon et Marseille / CIERA Centre interdisciplinaire d’études et de recherches sur l’Allemagne / MUCEM / Camps des Miles / memorial-des-deportations / Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen / Denkort Bunker Valentin / Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah / OFAJ DFJW / Auswärtiges Amt