Going hyperlocal

Exploring what's nearby.

Yesterday we busted out.

The government is trying to avoid a second lockdown in France, but COVID cases are increasing in astonishing numbers: 50,000 new cases since yesterday. Gatherings of more than 6 people are banned and other things that don’t apply to those of living in quasi-rural areas, and we are under a curfew from 9 pm to 6 am.

So it was rather chilling to read, on a masked and socially distanced visit (there were exactly two other people in the venue) to la Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation de l’Ain, in Nantua, that our area, the Pays de Gex, was under German occupation in the Second World War—and there was a curfew from 9 pm to 6 am!

I’ve written a bit about the museum before. It is hugely impressive and accessible to the disabled and with multilingual exhibits in Braille and sign language. It’s filled with objects, like bars of soap and parachutes and old letters and ration cards. Very absorbing and worth a return trip. This was my second visit.

The museum is located in a former prison—the Nazis rounded up and deported the prisoners there in 1943—and is next to the Abbey Church of Saint Michael, which was consecrated in the 11th century. But that wasn’t when it started! The 11th-century church was built on the ruins of a Benedictine monastery.

The age was rather mind-boggling, as is the shameful fact that there is a painting in it by Eugène Delacroix, which we did not see. To be fair, Mass was going on—at least, this is the excuse I am using—and we didn’t want to interrupt by tromping around too much. Clearly, we must go back.

This last shot, of the bell tower, was taken from just outside the museum.

Below are a few of my favorite things in the museum: compelling graphic posters, a homemade brooch celebrating the Allies, and the Lorraine cross, which became a symbol of the French resistance.

More from the return trip!