Auschwitz seminar at Maison d’Izieu

From 16 to 20 September 2024, the Maison d’Izieu welcomed 26 guides and educators from the National Auschwitz Museum to hold a seminar with them in Izieu, Nantua and Lyon. The seminar takes place regularly two years.

The seminar participants were able to explore the house and the museum’s exhibition spaces during the week, accompanied by Cyrielle Forses, who is responsible for research and education.  In addition to discovering the museum, the participants also had the opportunity to watch the film ‘Denise et Marco’ and then discuss the film with each other and the director Frederika Smetana.

The participants were able to trace the growing tensions in the colony before the raid in the temporary exhibition ‘They were children!’ using the objects on display for the first time and the exposed original documents, and to get an idea of the first signs of remembrance after the raid. Stéphanie Boissard, the responsible for research, documentation and archives, accompanied them.

The guided tour of the village of Izieu by the museum’s director Alexandre Nugues-Bourchat enabled the seminar participants to understand the environment in which the colony was located. The workshop ‘How the history of Izieu’s children is written’ and the lecture ‘Diversity of families: lecture on the roots and life paths of the families of Izieu’ helped the participants to get to know and understand the Maison d’Izieu better.

On Tuesday, Roger Wolman’s visit as a witness and former child of Izieu was on the agenda and he shared his testimony with those present in the form of a lecture.

At the end of the week, the participants travelled to Nantua to visit the Resistance and Deportation Museum of the department Ain. The seminar group then travelled on to Lyon to visit the Montluc Prison National Memorial and the Centre for the History of the Resistance and Deportation at the Museum of Lyon.

The seminar’s intention was to present the research and mediation work done at the Maison d’Izieu such as the place’s history, the genocidal process, the fate of Jewish children in the Shoah and the process of cultural memory.

The week’s results: enriching and interesting exchanges for the teams of both memorials, as well as moments of sharing and conviviality to strengthen Franco-Polish relations.

You can also access the article on the Auschwitz State Museum seminar by clicking here.