Mont Valérien

During the German occupation of 1940–44, the western slope of the Mont Valérien fortress became the principal site of Nazi executions in the Paris region. In a forest clearing beside the fort, more than 1,000 Resistance fighters, communists, Jews and hostages were shot by firing squad, often in reprisal for attacks on German forces. Among the condemned, many wrote final letters later collected as a testament of the Resistance. In 1960 Charles de Gaulle inaugurated the Mémorial de la France Combattante here, its crypt holding sixteen fighters representing all who died for Free France. The bullet-scarred execution clearing is preserved as sacred ground.