The Foucarville museum reminds us that “denazification was possible”.
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By Eric Marie Article published in Ouest France on December 15, 2025
A museum will be created in Foucarville, on the site where over 100,000 German prisoners passed through after the D-Day landings in June 1944. It is hoped to open in 2028.
“Catherine Brunaud-Rhyn, vice-president of the département, says: “This project for the first museum on wartime captivity in liberated Europe is exceptional. On Friday December 12, the département council officially launched the museum project at Foucarville, on the site where more than 100,000 German prisoners were held between June 1944 and early 1947.
“A story that very few people know”.
In 2021, the Warren J. Kennedy Foundation (the camp’s American lieutenant-colonel commandant) was created. It will safeguard all archival donations made by the daughter of Warren J. Kennedy, as well as by the children of German prisoners. Last May, the Comité du Débarquement revealed the sketches of this museum. “Jean Quétier, president of the Comité du Débarquement, explained at the time: “A history that very few people know about, and a site where nothing remains.
“This museum reveals another facet of the D-Day landings. “
Philippe Gosselin, Member of Parliament
We’re not talking about yet another museum,” warns Maryse Le Goff, departmental councillor for the canton of Carentan. It will be a different kind of museum. It is intended as a “mediation tool”, “weaving links with the present”. The project includes a 1,370 m² building on a 1.3 ha site, located between the town of Ravenoville and the former Foucarville camp. A memorial garden symbolizing the camp will also be created. The budget, estimated at eleven million euros, is half funded by Europe. The Dépar- tement and the Région will each contribute €200,000 in subsidies. The association will cover the remainder through sponsorship and borrowing.
“This museum reveals another facet of the D-Day landings,” says French MP Philippe Gosselin, for whom Foucarville has demonstrated that denazification was possible. Construction could begin in March 2026, with opening to the public scheduled for spring 2028.
Telling the story of wartime captivity by comparing different camps November 2025: while we wait for the austere issues to settle (building permits, financing dossiers, various authorizations, etc.), we invite you… Read more: Clap 005 – A feast for the eyes
In June 2025, the museum reaches a new milestone: from the Avant-Projet Sommaire (APS) to the Avant-Projet Définitif (APD). According to the dictionary, we’ve gone from a “summary” project (concise, quick,… Read more: Clap 004 – Preliminary design: The museum takes shape
A museum of captivity: what for? A sensitive subject if ever there was one, on both the German and French sides, we decided to do this “freeze frame” to take a… Read more: Clap 003 – Freeze frame
Every architectural project unfolds in a succession of well-defined phases, each with its own contribution to make. After the sketch, the Avant-Projet Sommaire (APS) appears on March 12, 2025…In our case,… Read more: Clap 002 – Preliminary design (APS)
CCPWE 19 covered more than 100 hectares between Foucarville and Ravenoville. From 15,000 at the end of November 1944, the prisoners reached 60,000 less than six months later. After several days’… Read more: Five bread ovens for 60,000 men
In April 2024, the Warren J. Kennedy Association, owner of the future museum, launched a design competition. The jury, which met on June 18, selected three teams from 49 applications. They… Read more: Clap 001! Competition
Article published in Le Moniteur – 18/04/2025. Totally unknown, Foucarville was the largest German prison camp in Europe – 100,000 men on 80 hectares – opened in 1944,at the Liberation. The museum that will be dedicated to it is a… Read more: Ravenoville (50) Museum
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