La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation

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The Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation was founded on 17 October 1990 ont of the initiative of the former french prime minister Michel Rocard as well as of the former minister of the Interior. The head office of the Fondation “pour la Mémoire de la Déportation” is placed in Paris. The foundation acts as an organization for a range of associations and corporations which are dealing whith deportation and detention during Nazism and Vichy regime between 1940 and 1944 in France. As a national institution, the ruling competence is in the hands of an 18 members´ council. Among others it consists of representatives of the following French ministries: The ministry of the Interior, the ministry of Defense, the ministry of Education and the ministry of Finance. By now the head of the foundation is M. Yves Lescure.

The work of the foundation and of its attributable associations and corporations are focusing on activities, alliances and initiatives of former internees as well as the support of their families and the preservation of knowledge over internment and deportation for coming generations. In its program the organization pays attention to several principles which together build a base for more than ten years of successful documentation and research work:

pérenniser (refuse): To hold up the reminiscence of the deportation of an innumerable amount of people and their lifes.
défendre (defend): To secure the interests and the honor of former concentration camp prisoners.
s’opposer (resist): To resist against every violation of freedom, dignity and the rights of people who suffer from totalitarian systems.
contribuer (contribute): To contribute tasks for the maintenance of all documentation material to avoid a return of Nazism.
participer (participate): To contribute the education of coming generations, to provide them with knowledge and respect over the horrible historical incidents.
approfondir (deepen): To deepen the international publicity of the organisation, the knowledge of concentration camp prisoners and resistance in World War II out of the available informations and documents of the “Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation”.
continuer (continue): To carry on the scientific research to learn more about the pathology of Nazism.

By intermediation of knowledge and awareness training for a broader spectrum of society, the foundation tries on the one hand to keep the remembrance for internment and deportation, on the other it is a preventive contribution to avoid deportation and internment.