Île-de-France: Bobigny’s former deportation train station memorial opens

The former deportation station at Bobigny is transformed into a "Memorial". A place of remembrance of the deportation of the Jews of France, this site steeped in history and located in Seine-Saint-Denis opens to the general public this Wednesday, January 18. It will then be officially inaugurated on July 18, 2023.

Transforming the former Bobigny deportation station into a place of remembrance. This is the objective of the work begun in September 2020 in Seine-Saint-Denis. Unfortunately, due to the health crisis, the worksite has been delayed. But it is finally ready to welcome its first visitors on Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The former Bobigny deportation station will then be officially inaugurated as a " Memorial " on July 18, 2023. This date was not chosen at random, as it marks the 80th anniversary of the departure of Convoy 57, the first transport of deportees to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland.

Few people know it, butBobigny's former train station bears the scars of the darkest hours in our history. Built in the early 1930s, this Parisian station closed to passenger traffic in 1939, before becoming a site for the deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War. Between July 1943 and August 1944, 22,407 Jews of all ages, mainly held at the Drancy camp just over 2 km away, were loaded into leaded wagons from the Bobigny freight station. Prior to this, convoys departed from the Bourget station, also in Seine-Saint-Denis. In all, 21 convoys left Bobigny for the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, with the exception of convoy 73 to Lithuania and Estonia, and convoy 79 to Buchenwald.

Bobigny's former deportation station: a long-running enhancement project

Since the end of the Second World War, many people have been fighting for the former Bobigny deportation station to become a place of remembrance. In 2023, the project will finally see the light of day. But the road has been long and full of pitfalls.

It all began in 2005 with the departure of the scrap dealer and the transfer of part of the site to the City of Bobigny. That same year, the former Bobigny deportation station was listed on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments. A new milestone was reached in 2011, with the signing of a cooperation agreement between SNCF Chairman Guillaume Pepy and Bobigny Mayor Catherine Peyge(PC), in the presence of Serge Klarsfeld and Simone Veil, who was deported to Auschwitz from Bobigny in April 1944.

Four long years of planning and study followed. Then, following a competition launched in 2016, the project management for the overall development was entrusted to a consortium of Dutch landscape architects and scenographers, OKRA, and the architectural firm Philippe Prost. Work to transform the former Bobigny deportation station into a memorial will begin in September 2020. Cost? 4.5 million euros. The project's many partners include the French Ministry of Defense, the SNCF, the Île-de-France region, the Seine-Saint-Denis department, the Fondation du Patrimoine, the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, the Mémorial de la Shoah, theAFMA and theConvoi 73 association.

Bobigny's former deportation station becomes a place of remembrance

Until now, Bobigny's former deportation station has only opened its doors on the rarest of occasions. But from this Wednesday, January 18, 2023, the site is finally open to the general public from Wednesday to Sunday. This 3.5-hectare former railway site has been completely redeveloped into a genuine place of remembrance, and is open to the public on free tours and guided tours (with a charge) starting in February. The aim? To offer visitors an educational trail divided into two parts. Adèle Purlich, site manager, and Bernard Saint-Jean, project manager for the City of Bobigny, explain.

The tour begins with the " Esplanade du présent ". Offering a global view of the site, this area enables visitors to learn more about Bobigny's former deportation station through a historical overview of the site. Explanatory panels explain the history of the Drancy camp, the Bourget and Bobigny stations, the genocide of French Jews and the Bobigny station as a former industrial site.

The open-air tour continues on the esplanade-garden, where you'll be moved to discover excerpts from the testimonies of deportees inscribed on wooden panels and steles. One of the wooden steles reads: " Embarquement fait le 18-7-43 au matin à 6.30 en Gare de Bobigny (Seine) de façon inhumaine et bestiale - Jacques Baltar - Convoi n° 57 du 18 juillet 1943 ".

As we enter the second part of the museum, the " Espace de la mémoire ", our emotions are heightened still further. Here, we discover the site's historic heart. There's the goods hall, renovated in 2014, the original cobblestones trodden by the deportees and restored for the occasion, but also the famous travellers' building. Now condemned, but soon to be restored, this building was probably the last civilian building seen by the deportees.

We also see 75 commemorative steel steles in reference to the dozens of convoys of Jewish deportees who left France between 1942 and 1944.

Nearby, the site also features a huge steel map listing the main assembly camps in France. And then, of course, there are the railroad tracks on which the convoys were formed, and Paul Eluard's phrase, engraved on the wall running alongside the rails: " If the echo of their voices falters, we shall perish ", paying tribute to the many deportees.

And let's not forget the kinetic wooden fence at the entrance to the site, overlooking Avenue Henri Barbusse and symbolizing the 21 convoys that left from Bobigny.

But don't expect to see any wagons, as is the case at the Drancy memorial. The site of the former Bobigny deportation station relies on discreet signage. The site has also sought to protect and conserve existing biodiversity, in particular overgrown vegetation.

All in all, this open-air tour lasts around an hour (be sure to bundle up in winter, as the site is exposed to the wind) and provides an insight into the history of this historic site. It is also a place where the history of the Holocaust is taught, and a space dedicated to commemoration and meditation.

In fact, the Memorial at the former Bobigny deportation station is planning a commemorative evening on January 27, the day of remembrance of genocide and prevention of crimes against humanity. It was also on January 27, 1945, that the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was liberated. This commemorative evening will take place in the goods hall. Theofficial inauguration of this place of remembrance is scheduled for July 18, 2023, the 80th anniversary of the departure of convoy 57.