“The Falaise Memorial – Civilians in the War” is a real site museum, built on the ruins of a house destroyed during the bombings of the summer of 1944.
Although the fate of civilians is sometimes mentioned, a museum has never chosen to devote itself entirely to the daily lives of populations during periods of armed conflict.
A unique memorial dedicated to civilians
What is the daily life of populations in times of war? How do we live under the Occupation, the bombings, the exodus?
What is the daily life of populations in times of war? How do we live under the Occupation, the bombings, the exodus? What were the relations of civilians with the occupying army, with the Pétainist administration, then, after the Landing, with the allied armies? So many questions that abound when we are interested in the lives of civilians in times of war.
As the Second World War moves from memory to history, the answers to these questions – and many others – are at the Falaise Memorial. This place of memory is unique in the world. Indeed, never before has a museum as a whole chosen to deal with the fate of civilians in times of armed conflict. This theme is sometimes mentioned in museums dedicated to war, but most of the museography there is dedicated to fighting heroes: the military and the Resistance.
Civilians in times of war are a hidden, little-known story that no one has really been interested in for 80 years. Today, it is time to tell the story of this “silent martyrdom”.
The physical situation
The Falaise Memorial is a real site museum. It incorporates the ruins of a house destroyed during the bombings of the summer of 1944.
Archaeological excavations carried out in the spring of 2015 by around fifteen archaeologists from Inrap* revealed the remains of a residential house destroyed during the bombings of the summer of 1944.
By incredible coincidence, this discovery takes place at the exact location of the “immersive house” imagined by the team responsible for designing the museum as the highlight of the visit.
These vestiges have been carefully preserved to be integrated into the scenography of this space in which the bombing of civilian populations will be evoked in a spectacular way, through sound and image.
Thus what is reported, explained, supported at the Falaise Memorial was experienced on the very premises of the museum.
*Inrap: National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research
