Musée Mémoire 39-45

About the museum

The bunker in the Parc Saint-Pierre was built from early 1941 by the Organisation Todt, less than a year after the start of the German occupation. It housed the successive German port commanders until 1944, served as the telephone exchange of the German navy for the département and as the command post for the coastal batteries. Despite the bombing the town suffered, the building was never hit. On September 30, 1944, the day Calais was liberated, Canadian soldiers discovered it by chance. It was then looted, and the municipality walled up the entrance in 1948.

The reinforced-concrete bunker is 94 metres long; its outer walls are more than two metres thick. In 1962 it became a museum of the Second World War, inaugurated on September 1. The first collections came from donations by local residents. At the end of the 1960s the museum had only four rooms; today it has many more, and original installations such as the electrical system, ventilation and heating are still visible.

The route, mainly pictorial, tells the story of the war in Calais and its region from 1939 to 1945: the capture of the town by the German army on May 26, 1940, the occupation, the fate of the population and the liberation. It displays deactivated weapons and ammunition, uniforms, equipment, a large collection of posters, numerous photographs, press cuttings and everyday objects. A screening room shows an archive film from 1943.

Highlights

• According to the museum, the longest German bunker in Europe, 94 metres long
• More than 60 uniforms from different armies
• Deactivated period weapons and ammunition
• Posters, photographs and press cuttings on life in Calais during the war
• Archive film from 1943

Permanent exhibition

• Calais pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale – Route through the German bunker with uniforms, deactivated weapons, posters, photographs and everyday objects from 1939 to 1945.

Founded

1962

Operated by

SPL Grand Calais Tourisme et Culture

Admission & discounts

Adults aged 12 and over: €8. TER Hauts-de-France reduction on presentation of a TER train ticket valid on the day of the visit: €6 instead of €8 for adults and €4.50 instead of €6 for children aged 4 to 11, while places last. Online ticketing on the museum's website.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

Getting there & parking

The museum is in the Parc Saint-Pierre, in the heart of Calais.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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