Besançon Museum of the Resistance and Deportation History and visit

The Museum

History Museum, a civic tool

The Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation (Museum of the Resistance and Deportation) has always been a museum of history, and today it is more essential than ever to continue this mission. However, it also aims to renew its approach to reinforce its role as a tool for the general public. 

Thus, beyond the history of the Second World War, the discourse of the future museum addresses timeless issues such as the coming to power of a totalitarian regime, the collapse of a democracy, the establishment of a system of large-scale repression and extermination, as well as those of the Resistance and commitment in the name of values that transcend the individual.

The museum in a nutshell : 

• Enhancement of the Fusillés et du Témoin monument on the Denise Lorach esplanade;
• A more accessible building (new reception area, elevator, etc.)
• A new museography to better showcase the museum's collections;
• A new space dedicated to temporary exhibitions 
• A special area dedicated to the museum's treasure trove of deported art.

Museum history, key dates

Highlights

Throughout the permanent exhibition, discover a selection of the collections, highlighted to illustrate each of the themes addressed during the visit.

Le Verfügbar aux Enfers, Germaine Tillion, Ravensbrück, 1944.

Paul Balleroy's suitcase of false papers, 1943-1944.

Prosthesis by Lucien Bergier, 1941.

Jewish children's bra and sandals, Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1943-1944.

Prison cell door, Dole (Jura), 1940-1945.

Cell keys, reported by Jacqueline Bècle, Stettin prison (Poland), May 1945.

Art in deportation

Previously invisible to the public, the museum's treasure trove of deported art is now unveiled in a specially dedicated space.

With over 600 works, this collection is one of the richest in Europe.

Through a selection of drawings, small paintings and statuettes created clandestinely by deportees in the concentration camps and prisons of the Third Reich, discover how women and men used drawing as a weapon of resistance, to bear witness to their experience of deportation.

The collections

Daily life - Occupation

Resistance

Repression

Persecution - Extermination

Deportation

Release

The temporary exhibition

Around the table, sharing stories
(September 2023 to summer 2024)

To mark its reopening, the museum has chosen to highlight its special relationship with donors. Since it was founded in the late 1960s, the museum has built up its collection from objects and private archives donated by former members of the Resistance, deportees and their families.

Over the years, he has developed a real expertise in this field, documenting not only the personal stories and journeys of those who lived through the Second World War, but also their place in family memory and the ways in which they are passed on.

Photographer Brigitte Chartreux has immortalized a number of encounters with donors, giving us a glimpse behind the scenes of these extraordinary encounters, the stories that are told, the objects and archives that are discovered, and the emotions that run through us. To give this essential work its full artistic, poetic and profoundly human dimension, the museum has devised this exhibition combining photographs and stories, because images and words are part of the same language.

Please note :
Exhibition open on Citadelle opening days and times.
Guided tours of the temporary exhibition are available throughout the year. More information in theCitadelle diary.

Maurice Coezard

Jules and Bernard Bouveret

Marguerite, Eugène, Henri, Marianne and Jean-Pierre Barbier

Robert Chanut

Marie Betbeder-Matibet

Resource center

Since the late 1980s, the resource center has been at the heart of the museum's activities.

Completely refurbished, it features 12,000 books available for loan, as well as thousands of newspapers and access to the museum's rich archives.

The museum's daily work tool, it also welcomes researchers, students and the curious interested in the Second World War.

Discover our quarterly newsletter "Entre les lignes" in the News section.

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