Shoah--Preserving the Memorial

This is the Wall of Names at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris. The blip shows only a small portion of several walls, which bear the names of the 76,000 persons (including 11,000 children) who were deported from Paris between 1942 and 1944 by the Nazis, with the collaboration of the French government at Vichy. Only 2500 persons survived deportation. Some of the names (which include the date of birth) are fading and are being meticulously restored.

Throughout Paris are many plaques memorializing other victims of the Nazis, including one here, commemorating the murder of a French woman who "fell under German bullets" in August 1944.

The Memorial complex includes a documentation center and museum, which currently is showing an exhibition on Hélène Berr (1921-1944), whose moving diary of the 1942-44 occupation was finally published in 2008.

Among Paris's multitude of museums none is more moving than the Memorial to the Shoah.