Located in the town of Les Lilas, north-east of Paris, the Fort de Romainville is a French landmark, as it was here that the very first French internment camp was set up by the Nazis during the Occupation. In four years, from 1940 to 1944, over 7,000 people were imprisoned here, before being deported to the concentration camps of Ravensbrück (Germany) or Birkenau (Poland).
Built between 1844 and 1848, Fort de Romainville is a military structure built to protect Paris in the 19th century. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, it was here that the inhabitants of Les Lilas and other neighboring towns took shelter. Unused for several decades, Fort de Romainville served as an internment camp for Jews and deportees during occupied France, to prevent their transfer to concentration and extermination camps. The camp mainly housed women involved in the French Resistance, who were later deported: most of them have since disappeared. A memorial to these women will be inaugurated at the Fort in 2025.
The Fort has never been made accessible to the general public, although major renovation work has been carried out. In 2025, following the completion of work carried out throughout the neighborhood where the Fort is located, this emblematic site of the Sequano-Dionys region will finally open its doors to the public, to tell its story through the centuries.
Location
Fort de Romainville
10 Avenue du Président Robert Schuman
93260 Lilas (Les)
Official website
www.tourisme93.com
