Le Mont-Valérien French Memorial to Resistance Martyrs
Le Mont-Valérien French Memorial to Resistance Martyrs
Le Mont-Valérien French Memorial to Resistance Martyrs
4.5
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
1:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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4.5
123 reviews
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cliu
Vancouver, Canada7,079 contributions
May 2022
We came here as it was highly recommended by a few people here in the Forum. All guided tours must be pre arranged and precooked but it is all free. We wrote an email to them in French requesting a guided tour in English…because the tours are mostly in German or French, we were given a date 2 weeks later than we asked for. Luckily we were in Paris for a month so no problem.
We took RER A to La Defense then switched to Train L to reach Gare in Suresne…we walked the long way up to the Memorial instead it being only 900 meters from the station. But, because of this longer route, we were also able to see the American cemetery…what a sight and what class! from this cemetery is a gorgeous view of Eiffel Tower and when we were there, there was no one visiting. It was also free.
It took us about 30 minutes to reach Mont Valerien as it is a climb uphill. The meeting point is the info Center hidden in the back to the left of the massive memorial. In order to enter the fortress and crypt behind this wall, you need to have a guided tour.
The tour was led by 2 young ladies with so much knowledge and information about WW2 and how the French participated and how the French interpreted the Resistance. Here you will actually see the site of the execution of about 1008 communists, Jews, resistance fighters not only French but from 23 other different countries. You will also learn about l’Abbe Franz Stock and will visit the little church where the prisoners spent their last moments before being executed. On parts of the wall, you can still see the actual writing from the executed. You will also learn how French General Patin was a fascist and antisemetic like the Germans.
The walking tour is about 1.5 hours in duration with walking and standing and there is only washroom facilities at the meeting info Center.
It was a very emotional tour for me listening to the history and atrocities that took place between 1941 to 1945 but most of the executions at Mont Valerie’s took place in 1942.
I highly recommend this tour but book in advance.
We took RER A to La Defense then switched to Train L to reach Gare in Suresne…we walked the long way up to the Memorial instead it being only 900 meters from the station. But, because of this longer route, we were also able to see the American cemetery…what a sight and what class! from this cemetery is a gorgeous view of Eiffel Tower and when we were there, there was no one visiting. It was also free.
It took us about 30 minutes to reach Mont Valerien as it is a climb uphill. The meeting point is the info Center hidden in the back to the left of the massive memorial. In order to enter the fortress and crypt behind this wall, you need to have a guided tour.
The tour was led by 2 young ladies with so much knowledge and information about WW2 and how the French participated and how the French interpreted the Resistance. Here you will actually see the site of the execution of about 1008 communists, Jews, resistance fighters not only French but from 23 other different countries. You will also learn about l’Abbe Franz Stock and will visit the little church where the prisoners spent their last moments before being executed. On parts of the wall, you can still see the actual writing from the executed. You will also learn how French General Patin was a fascist and antisemetic like the Germans.
The walking tour is about 1.5 hours in duration with walking and standing and there is only washroom facilities at the meeting info Center.
It was a very emotional tour for me listening to the history and atrocities that took place between 1941 to 1945 but most of the executions at Mont Valerie’s took place in 1942.
I highly recommend this tour but book in advance.
Written May 24, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Beat71
Marcq-en-Baroeul, France251 contributions
Nov 2024 • Friends
Very interesting and complete visit, allowing to enter the crypt and chapel and see the memorial and the clearing, places not accessible in free visit
The guide was super, very clear, concise and detailed at the same time
Note that these visits are regularly organized, and are free on registration,
The guide was super, very clear, concise and detailed at the same time
Note that these visits are regularly organized, and are free on registration,
Automatically translated
Written November 12, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tcut
Paris, France424 contributions
Feb 2014 • Couples
This massive memorial is just around the corner from the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial and is more than worth a visit. (Just walk around the corner to the left as you're looking at the entrance to the Cemetery and head up the hill. The giant iron double-barred cross of Lorraine will be to your right and the welcome building for the start of the guided tours is to the left of the cross as you're looking at it, tucked in at the base of the wall onto which the cross is mounted.) We knew nothing about Mont-Valérian and were very lucky to pick up a brochure on the French memorial at the American cemetery and discover we just had time to make the last tour on a Sunday afternoon. Entrance is only possible with a guide and the free tour takes approximately 1h 40minutes. It involves walking, much of which takes place on a hill which is often windy and can be cold in the winter, so dress accordingly. Our guide did not speak English, so I had to translate for my husband, but this memorial is worth checking ahead to see if an English guide can be arranged. (They have a web site with contact info, including email.) Our guide said that, aside from French, Germans constitute the next most frequent visitors, so there is more of a need for German than English. It's a shame, because this Memorial is unforgettable.
The location is on a fort/hill. Hermits were drawn to the hill since the 10th century and the fortress portion of which has been in existence since the time of Louis-Phillipe. (An active French military base remains on the summit.) During WWII, the fort was quickly taken by the Germans and became an execution site for Resistance fighters and other "hostages" who were rounded up either because of ties to Resistance members or to satisfy HItler's order that "50-100" persons should be executed for every German soldier killed in Paris. Communists, Jews and immigrants were frequently selected to round out these numbers.
The Memorial seeks to trace the path of these executed men from arrest through execution by firing squad to burial. You enter into the hill through one of the metal doors at the base of the huge cross of Lorraine then proceed out onto the hillside and walk up a path pass old casements and rails for transporting arms to a display of memorabilia in a former stable. There you see gut-wrenching final letters from the condemned to their families and loved-ones along with Vichy and Nazi propaganda, photos and copies of execution notices posted on Paris walls, etc. From this little museum, you walk a few paces to an ancient chapel where the men were held for 1-8 hours while waiting to be taken to their executions. Final words scratched in the walls are preserved under plexiglass. Several wooden coffins (really transport boxes, as they were re-used after dumping the bodies in mass graves or cremating them at Père Lachaise) are displayed here along with several bullet-ridden posts to which the men were tied.
Next, you are led to the clearing where the condemned faced a firing squad of 10 German soldiers. Squads were chosen at random and taken to eat and "drink a lot" prior to being informed of their task for the day. 1009 men were murdered at this spot. It is now marked by a French flag and a stone placed their on the instruction of Gen. De Gaulle.
The tour winds up at the Memorial inside the hill where 16 coffins of individuals representing dead from all France and French territories are displayed along with a memorial place above the buried ashes from 6 deportation camps. Each 18 July, the sitting French president makes a pilgrimage trip to Mont-Valérien where, with a big ceremony, he signs the livre d'or (golden book) containing De Gaulle's call to arms. The book is displayed in the Memorial in front of the coffins.
It is easy to get to Suresnes/Mont-Valérien by L train from Gare St-Lazare in Paris. It's about a 30 minute ride. To your left out of the train station (heading uphill), rue du Calvaire turns into ave du Professeur Léon Bernard, the road on which the Memorial lies. (The American Cemetery is to your right at the point where this road intersects with bd Washington.)
The location is on a fort/hill. Hermits were drawn to the hill since the 10th century and the fortress portion of which has been in existence since the time of Louis-Phillipe. (An active French military base remains on the summit.) During WWII, the fort was quickly taken by the Germans and became an execution site for Resistance fighters and other "hostages" who were rounded up either because of ties to Resistance members or to satisfy HItler's order that "50-100" persons should be executed for every German soldier killed in Paris. Communists, Jews and immigrants were frequently selected to round out these numbers.
The Memorial seeks to trace the path of these executed men from arrest through execution by firing squad to burial. You enter into the hill through one of the metal doors at the base of the huge cross of Lorraine then proceed out onto the hillside and walk up a path pass old casements and rails for transporting arms to a display of memorabilia in a former stable. There you see gut-wrenching final letters from the condemned to their families and loved-ones along with Vichy and Nazi propaganda, photos and copies of execution notices posted on Paris walls, etc. From this little museum, you walk a few paces to an ancient chapel where the men were held for 1-8 hours while waiting to be taken to their executions. Final words scratched in the walls are preserved under plexiglass. Several wooden coffins (really transport boxes, as they were re-used after dumping the bodies in mass graves or cremating them at Père Lachaise) are displayed here along with several bullet-ridden posts to which the men were tied.
Next, you are led to the clearing where the condemned faced a firing squad of 10 German soldiers. Squads were chosen at random and taken to eat and "drink a lot" prior to being informed of their task for the day. 1009 men were murdered at this spot. It is now marked by a French flag and a stone placed their on the instruction of Gen. De Gaulle.
The tour winds up at the Memorial inside the hill where 16 coffins of individuals representing dead from all France and French territories are displayed along with a memorial place above the buried ashes from 6 deportation camps. Each 18 July, the sitting French president makes a pilgrimage trip to Mont-Valérien where, with a big ceremony, he signs the livre d'or (golden book) containing De Gaulle's call to arms. The book is displayed in the Memorial in front of the coffins.
It is easy to get to Suresnes/Mont-Valérien by L train from Gare St-Lazare in Paris. It's about a 30 minute ride. To your left out of the train station (heading uphill), rue du Calvaire turns into ave du Professeur Léon Bernard, the road on which the Memorial lies. (The American Cemetery is to your right at the point where this road intersects with bd Washington.)
Written February 10, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Karen R
Edinburgh, UK240 contributions
Oct 2020 • Solo
The scene of the murders of members of resistance and other freedom fighters in a war few these days seem to remember or care about. The memorial is situated in a huge park popular with runners, it was disappointing therefore to see some use it as a piece of exercise equipment. It is a crypt-it should be respected. There is an eternal flame also burning here. A short distance away is also the American Cemetery which was stunning too. A good way to spend a Sunday in remembrance.
Written October 6, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
maltese632017
Norwich, UK1,047 contributions
Feb 2018 • Solo
The panoramic views from Mont Valerien over Paris are stunning and as you walk down the hill towards Suresnes your view stretches as far as the eye can see with the Eiffel Tower as centre piece. The memorial itself is very touching but there is a brighter note to this location as many French families, joggers, cyclists and this week tobogganers enjoying the fantastic landscape. There is plenty of parking and a 360 degree view.
Written February 10, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BigAlNorthampton
England, UK226 contributions
Oct 2014 • Friends
Morning visit before the nearby horse racing. Caught the bus from La Defense to the Mont Valerien stop; then a walk. Need to go around the fort to get to the entrance . Eternal flame and many memorials. Could get cold as the highest point in Paris I understand
Written October 14, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jjlasne
Oakland, CA60 contributions
Oct 2013 • Solo
This is not the happiest place on earth, it is not as well kept as the US military cemetery next door and not much visited but, for people who want to be reminded of the horrors of war and occupation, this is the place to go for a quick visit. Plenty of parking.
Written June 17, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michael P
6 contributions
Jan 2023
Having watched the film Armee du Crime my wife and I visited on a cold January day.
We pre booked a guided tour in English with Sophie who is an excellent guide.
A very moving visit which will stand long in the memory having seen the place that the Nazis executed Missak Manouchian and his resistance fighters, along with hundreds more resistance fighters and reprisals during the second war.
The following day we visited Ivry cemetery where the above are buried.
Fortunately England did not experience the horrors of being occupied by the Nazis.
We pre booked a guided tour in English with Sophie who is an excellent guide.
A very moving visit which will stand long in the memory having seen the place that the Nazis executed Missak Manouchian and his resistance fighters, along with hundreds more resistance fighters and reprisals during the second war.
The following day we visited Ivry cemetery where the above are buried.
Fortunately England did not experience the horrors of being occupied by the Nazis.
Written January 30, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Traveler O
Washington DC, DC1,216 contributions
Jun 2022
A moving, worthy memorial and tribute to the Resistance during WWII in France. Just behind the memorial is the Fort (Mont Valerien) - which remains an active French Army fort, but during WWII was used by the Germans (namely the SS and Gestapo) to imprison, torture and execute thousands of Resistance members. It's only fitting they're remembered here where so many of their lives ended, but with a memorial overlooking Paris and the country they loved and died for.
There are official events here every year with members of the families of the Resistance, as the last member passed away a few years ago, but their memory lives on with ceremonies of remembrance every year. Worth seeing, but recommend reading ahead about the Resistance and what happened here. A place and part of history known and held dear by the French, but not as well known by foreigners.
There are official events here every year with members of the families of the Resistance, as the last member passed away a few years ago, but their memory lives on with ceremonies of remembrance every year. Worth seeing, but recommend reading ahead about the Resistance and what happened here. A place and part of history known and held dear by the French, but not as well known by foreigners.
Written October 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Keith D
Hellertown, PA199 contributions
Feb 2017 • Couples
This place was unknown to me until we arrived in Suresnes, but it was very sobering and moving. It is a tribute with an eternal flame to all the resistance fighters from France killed by the Nazi's. This was actually the very site where they were all rounded up and executed.
Written March 11, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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