Informations :
En raison des vagues de chaleur qui sévissent actuellement dans les salles d’art du Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation, ces salles seront inaccessibles jusqu’au 4 septembre 2026.
L’exposition permanente du Musée est – quant à elle – accessible.
Veuillez nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée.
The Museum of the Resistance and Deportation in Besançon History and Tour
The Museum
The museum is not recommended for children under 10
History Museum: A Tool for Civic Engagement
As a history museum, this is the mission that the Museum of the Resistance and Deportation has embraced since its inception—a mission that is more essential than ever today. It also aims to serve as a tool for civic engagement, placing a strong emphasis on inquiry, knowledge, and history understood as critical thinking.
Thus, beyond the history of World War II, the museum’s narrative addresses timeless issues such as the rise to power of a totalitarian regime, the collapse of a democracy, and the establishment of a system of large-scale repression and extermination, as well as the Resistance and commitment to values that transcend the individual.
Museum Map
The Museum's History: Key Dates
Monument to Those Executed by Firing Squad
Between 1941 and 1944, 98 members of the Resistance of various nationalities were shot by the German army at the citadel. A monument erected after the Liberation pays tribute to them.
The story of each person who was executed is accessible through a digital tool available to the public in the permanent exhibition. The museum continues its research to locate photographs, letters, and personal items that belonged to them. By helping to put a face to a name, it honors those who died for France.
The Witness and the Garden of Resurrection
Across from the museum entrance, a new garden named“Resurrection” pays tribute to those deported during World War II.
It is planted with the “Résurrection” rose, a creation by rose breeder Michel Kriloff commissioned by Marcelle Dudach-Roset (1918–1998), a former deportee from the Ravensbrück camp. These roses, which bloom at many memorial sites, symbolize freedom and peace. In the center , the statue of “The Witness,” created in 1950 by Georges Oudot, invites visitors to explore the museum.
Collections
The museum houses 120,000 items in its collections, including 100,000 archival documents and photographs, 600 posters, 14,000 artifacts, and 600 works of art related to deportation. These items illustrate the museum’s major themes: the rise of totalitarianism, the collapse of 1940, daily life under the Occupation, the Resistance and repression, internment, deportation, and extermination, followed by the Liberation and Reconstruction, as well as testimonies from the postwar period.
Make a donation to the museum
Since 1971, more than 1,700 donors have entrusted their family archives to the museum. If you have questions about donating documents, objects, or photographs from World War II, please contact us.
Art in Exile
The “Art in Deportation” collection is on display in two dedicated galleries at the end of the permanent exhibition. With more than 600 works, this collection is one of the most extensive in Europe. Through a selection of drawings, small paintings, and statuettes created clandestinely by deportees in the Reich’s concentration camps and prisons, discover how these men and women found the strength and courage to create art, despite the ever-present threat of hunger and death. These “modest works” speak to a determination to pass on their stories and bear witness, as well as to resist a system designed to crush both body and spirit.
Random Access Memory
Discover more of the museum's collections on Mémoire vive, the City of Besançon's digitized heritage website.
Temporary Exhibition
Retrouvez-nous en 2027 pour notre prochaine exposition…
Past Exhibitions
Discover past temporary exhibitions
Cultural Offerings
Educational Programs
The museum aims to serve as an educational resource for the citizens of tomorrow. Through its collections, it provides schoolchildren with a solid foundation of knowledge while also encouraging them to reflect on universal topics—both historical and contemporary—such as violence in our societies, responses to intolerance, and learning to live together.
That is why the museum’s educational programs focus primarily on welcoming school groups, from fifth grade through college.
Since 2023, 5,869 students have participated in the guided tours and workshops offered by the museum. This format allows participants to explore the museum in two parts: first, accompanied by a docent, students tour the various exhibition spaces; then, during a workshop in the education room, they delve deeper into a specific theme, using, among other things, reproductions of items from the collections.
Each year, the museum helps produce the brochure on the annual theme of the National Competition on the Resistance and Deportation, intended for teachers and students. Access the 2025–2026 brochure here: CNRD brochure
Conferences
To further its educational and scientific mission, the museum organizes a free lecture open to the public on the third Thursday of every month from September through June.
Speakers—including historians, writers, journalists, professors, archivists, comic book artists, and illustrators—are invited to share their work related to the museum’s themes.
Past Conferences
Resource Center
Resource Center
Since the late 1980s, the resource center has been at the heart of the museum’s activities. It houses 12, 000 books available for loan, as well as thousands of newspapers, and provides access to the museum’s extensive archival collection. As an essential tool for the museum’s daily operations, it also welcomes researchers, students, and members of the public interested in World War II.
The resource center is open by appointment.
Library Catalog
Find all the books available for browsing and borrowing in the BAM catalog.
Newsletter
Check out our quarterly newsletter, “Between the Lines.”
Past Newsletters
Contacts
The team at the Museum of the Resistance and Deportation:
- Vincent Briand, Director and Curator
- Aurélie Cousin, Assistant Director and Curator of Collections
- Marie Boley, Outreach Coordinator
- Camille Abbiateci, assistante de collections
- Margot Durand, régisseuse
- Karine Dupoux-Binder, Librarian
- Jeanne Pohren, Outreach Coordinator
Accueil du musée
Tél. 03 63 42 58 06
accueilmrdb@citadelle.besancon.fr
Renseignements pour les dons
Tél. 03 81 87 83 14 ou 03 81 87 83 12
transmettre.mrdb@citadelle.besancon.fr
Si vous possédez des archives, objets ou photographies de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et désirez voir ce patrimoine conservé et valorisé, contactez-nous.
Médiation
Tél : 03 81 87 83 17
mediation.mrdb@citadelle.besancon.fr
Découvrez l’offre de médiation pour les groupes adultes et pour les groupes scolaires.
Centre de ressources
Tél : 03 81 61 50 10
documentation.mrdb@citadelle.besancon.fr
Friends of the Museum Association
amis.mrd.besancon@gmail.com
The association helps promote the museum and supports its various projects. Its members enjoy guided tours and are actively involved in the museum’s activities.
