Calais Memory Museum: longest German bunker in Europe
The 1939-1945 Memorial Museum is in the heart of Calais, in the Saint Pierre park. Built in 1941, it was an administrative centre for the KriegsMarine. It measures 94 metres and its long corridor housed offices and living areas. Around twenty of the forty rooms designated in the bunker are open to the exhibition. They are dedicated to the life of the people of Calais under the Occupation and focus on the realities of everyday life. A series of posters – with very explicit content – relates the constant pressure of the period, and on many subjects: rationing, curfew, evacuation, child placement, etc. The 1939-1945 Memorial Museum bears witness to this painful period.
Diverse collections
These old rooms are transformed into 23 exhibition rooms. The tour is chronological while addressing many themes. Facing England, Calais and its port were highly strategic during the Second World War. Significant episodes therefore took place there and the Occupation was a daily pressure for the people of Calais. Photos, posters, press cuttings, period objects bear witness to this dark period. As for the weapons, uniforms, period military equipment, they illustrate a turbulent conflict in Calais.
Visit the Memory Museum
©Memory Museum 39/45 What's new in 2025?
New fresco and new room
A room now pays tribute to the Canadian army, which liberated Calais in September 1944. A scene from life features Canadian soldiers. The 94-metre corridor of the Musée Mémoire 1939-1945 has been given an original makeover. Visitors will discover 10 frescoes by David Avelart. These are reproductions of drawings identified on the walls of various blockhouses of the Atlantic Wall on the Opal Coast.
1940: 85 years ago, Operation Dynamo and the Battle of Britain
From the beginning of the German invasion, Calais found itself at the heart of the fighting, and played an important role for what followed. From May 22 to 26, the French and English were entrenched in the Citadel of Calais and slow down the Germans. Meanwhile, on the beaches of Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo has begun and British and French soldiers have started to embark for England! A few weeks later, it is the Battle of Britain. German aircraft are omnipresent on the Opal Coast and multiply raids on England throughout the summer. A room of the Calais Memorial Museum 1939-1945 is dedicated to the first major air battle in history. It shows in particular two emblematic fighter plane engines, the Spitfire and the Messerschmitt 1, both shot down in the sky of Calais.
©Nohcab 
©Nohcab 
©Nohcab