Musée des Enfants du château de la Hille

Over het museum

During the Second World War, the Château de la Hille near Montégut-Plantaurel in Ariège housed a children's colony, most of them Jewish, who had come from Germany and Austria via Belgium. The Secours suisse aux enfants (Swiss Children's Aid) of the Swiss Red Cross settled them at the château in spring 1941. Their survival depended on this aid, on the dedication of an exceptional management and on the commitment of the villagers and people of the surrounding area. The community brought together different nationalities, languages and religions. Several children did not return.

In August 1942, the gendarmerie arrested the children over the age of fifteen, who were interned at the Vernet camp, but they were freed thanks to the intervention of the Swiss director Rösli Näf and Maurice Dubois, head of the Secours suisse aux enfants. The colony closed at the end of 1945. A memorial was inaugurated in 2000.

To keep the memory of these events alive, the commune of Montégut-Plantaurel created a museum in 2007. It is not in the château but in the village, in the premises of the media library. Visitors see nine explanatory panels, technical sheets, files, testimonies and a few objects from the period. A photo and text exhibition, created with the Centre d'histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation in Varilhes, now complements the display, with 23 photographs and three drawings arranged in six themes.

Hoogtepunten

• Nine explanatory panels on the children's colony of the Château de la Hille
• Testimonies, files and objects from the period
• Photo and text exhibition with the Centre d'histoire de la Résistance in Varilhes
• Free admission
• Visits possible with a volunteer guide

Vaste collectie

• La colonie d'enfants du château de la Hille – Nine explanatory panels, fact sheets, testimonies and a few objects about life in the colony during the war.

Opgericht

2007

Beheerder

Commune de Montégut-Plantaurel

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

De toegang is gratis.

Free admission, with a voluntary contribution for adults.

Toegankelijkheid

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

Kinderen & gezin

The museum is free for children and school groups.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

The museum is located in the village media library, not at the Château de la Hille, which is about 1.5 km to the north-west.

Service & horeca

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

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