A memorial museum must be created by 2027 in France.

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Pierre VASSAL / HAYTHAM-POO / SIPA

  • Promised in 2018 by Emmanuel Macron, the Terrorism Memorial Museum is taking shape and should open its doors by 2027.

  • Considered a major step in the “memorial system” set up by the executive, this site will retrace the contemporary history of terrorism which has struck France on various occasions.

  • An initiative hailed by associations of victims of attack, who see in particular a means "to reduce their memory burden".

Commemorate to bring to life the memory of the deceased.

This Thursday, on the occasion of the 2nd edition of the national day of tribute to the victims of terrorism, Emmanuel Macron will go to the Invalides and then to the printing house of Michel Catalano, the entrepreneur from Dammartin-en-Goële taken hostage on January 9, 2015 by the Kouachi brothers.

This is an important step that is part of a more global system aimed at maintaining the memory of victims killed or injured during terrorist attacks.

To strengthen this commemorative dimension, the Head of State announced, on September 19, 2018, the creation of a memorial museum on terrorism.

Designed with the associations concerned, this project is gradually starting to take shape.

Installed in Paris, this unique place in France will have to "take account of the way in which democratic societies face the test of terrorism", according to the memorial committee at the origin of the proposal.

A place of memory therefore, but also of "reflection" and "distancing" from these contemporary events which have upset our daily lives.

Lighten the “memory burden”

For historians and associations alike, the existence of such a place was absolutely essential.

Interviewed on February 25 on France Inter, Henry Rousso, research director at the CNRS and in charge of the museum's foreshadowing mission, explained: “It would have been paradoxical for a society caught up in the logic of commemoration and memory ever since. half a century refuses to grant this benefit to victims of terrorism ”.

The creation of a place specific to these events will also have the virtue of “lightening the memory burden” borne for years by the direct victims, their relatives and the associations that represent them.

“It was important for us that the memory got out of our hands a little.

If, one day, we want to be able to detach ourselves from what has happened to us, it is good that society takes it, that we know that there is a place that takes care of doing it for us. », 

Tells

20 Minutes 

Arthur Denouveaux, president of the association Life for Paris, which brings together victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015.

An evolving museum

Beyond the tribute, this memorial museum will aim to retrace the history of contemporary terrorism, from 1974 to the present day.

Faced with an ever-present threat, this place will be forced into permanent evolution.

“We focus on a significant period that allows us to understand the world of today, but a museum is something evolving […].

We have to find a way to talk about current events, offering distance and a capacity for reflection.

Because one of the characteristics of terrorism is precisely that it prevents us from thinking, ”explained Henry Rousso at the microphone of France Inter.

“Archiving in a museum something so lively in our society is complicated,” admits Arthur Denouveaux for his part.

The other pitfall to be avoided is that of possible dead ends in history.

“The idea is to focus on a specific sequence, namely contemporary terrorism.

But it is already planned to devote a historical retrospective with some key moments.

An angle on the civilian victims of terrorism in Algeria is already being considered, ”slips a source at the Elysee.

A balance between history and emotion

But how to account for this terrorism without glorifying their authors or sinking into emotion alone?

The museum, which will have an educational vocation, will be able to draw on various resources: judicial, media and personal.

"It will have to be embodied, there will be proximity to the victims [...], and find a balance with the political and historical dimension of terrorism," said the president of Life for Paris,

also member of the Orientation Observatory of the Terrorism Memorial Museum public interest group.

Discussions have already taken place with the various associations and the project organizers, for example to collect personal items linked to the 2015 attacks.

Ditto for the judicial authorities, since seals resulting from terrorist proceedings definitively judged may be exhibited in this museum.

“We know that terrorism has transformed a whole lot of things in our cities, legally, police, and even in our daily lives.

This project aims precisely to understand how French society responds to terrorism, ”developed a source within the executive.

Finally, the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) can also provide video or sound clips related to contemporary attacks.

A meticulous collection work which will therefore take time: the opening is expected for 2027.

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  • Society

  • Paris

  • Tribute

  • Emmanuel Macron

  • Museum

  • Terrorism

  • Terrorist attacks in Paris

  • Commemoration