First French concentration camp being converted into memorial
Pithiviers train station was used by the Nazis to host around 3,500 Jews during the Holocaust, and will now become a museum
A train station in eastern France that during the Holocaust became the first concentration camp for French Jews is being rebuilt as a memorial museum.
The Pithiviers station housed around 3,500 Jews in May 1941. That was before the most infamous deportations of French Jews, and before Jews were being murdered en masse in Auschwitz.
Last week, local authorities said they would devote hundreds of thousands of euros to preserve the place, set up educational exhibitions on its walls and declare it a historical monument.
The abandoned train station, whose old rails have not been replaced, had remained unused for years after the Holocaust, the France3 television channel reported last week. Schools in its region of eastern France have been bringing pupils for years to see the station, which is currently closed to the public.
Separately, a website devoted to the memory of over 100,000 Dutch Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust was honored by the prestigious European Design Awards last month. The Jewish Monument website, which went online in 2005, is designed as a memorial wall featuring the names of Holocaust victims.
A physical memorial monument with the names of the Dutch victims of the Holocaust is currently being built in Amsterdam.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
