Montélimar

The snapshot was taken from the north side of 14 July 1789 street. The stone marker is in the middle of the round-about. Pierre Chabert street, leading to the station, is to be seen on the right. On the rectangular bases of the monument, where engraved plaques have been placed, is an imposing sculpture. In the right foreground, a path paved in red and white stone leads up to the monument, which is in the middle of a lawn, with flower-beds on either side. Behind the monument, shrubs and an umbrella pine create a dark background that sets off the work.

On the smallest of the marble rectangles, well up on three sides, is an engraving: To the memory of the Resistants and Deportees. Facing the path: 1940-1945 Resistance-Deportation Remember May 27, 1995. The stone sculpture represents two clasped hands, rising above the barbed wire. On the left side, with the flame of the Resistance: To the Resistance 1940-1945. On the north side of the monument, not visible on the photo, To the Deportees to the Nazi Concentration Camps. The crest, on the initiative of the deportees, was created by Jean Koulisky, a friend of Mme Boisnard's, who survived the camps. "It was worn by French deportees," she commented, "an F in a red triangle." She went on to observe that the French deportees were labelled political prisoners by the Nazis. For ceremonies, guests stand to the right of the round-about as seen in the photo, that is on the East side. Speakers address them from the path, turning their backs on the monument, while the personalities with wreaths to place arrive along the path toward the center of the round-about, with all turned toward the monument, three sides of which are visible.

Excerpted from a text by Claude and Michel Seyve.

Source: http://museedelaresistanceenligne.org/media1889-Rond-point-des-RA