Fusillés de la cascade du bois de Boulogne, Memorial to the executed resistance fighters in the Bois de Boulogne, 16th arrondissement, Paris, France
Fusillés de la cascade du bois de Boulogne is a memorial near the Grande Cascade of the Bois de Boulogne, in the 16th arrondissement. A pale grey stone cylinder stands on a circular plinth, a Latin cross carved in relief on its front and the names of the victims inscribed on its curved sides. The plinth bears the inscription "ICI ONT ETE FUSILLES", and a low green metal fence with a crossed-diagonal gate surrounds it.
The memorial stands where 35 young French resistance fighters were shot on 16 August 1944, days before the Liberation of Paris. German agents Friedrich Berger and Karl Rehbein, posing as British officers, lured them into a trap; the operation was run from the SD-SiPo office at 180 rue de la Pompe. A first wooden monument was replaced by the current stone one, inaugurated on 6 July 1946 after a public subscription raised 600,000 francs.
The monument was funded by a public subscription that raised 600,000 francs, authorised by a Paris municipal council decision of 13 December 1945 and inaugurated on 6 July 1946. It replaced a wooden marker that read "Ici ont été fusillés 34 martyrs le 16 août 1944". Most of the dead received the Médaille de la Résistance posthumously between 1946 and 1970.
The monument stands near the Grande Cascade, at the end of the chemin des Réservoirs in the Bois de Boulogne, 16th arrondissement; the cylindrical stele is set on a circular plinth behind a low green fence with a gate. The gate and the two flower bowls sit at the front, so the inscribed names on the curved sides are read from outside the fence.
The monument was funded by a public subscription that raised 600,000 francs, and the Paris municipal council authorised its construction on 13 December 1945; it was inaugurated on 6 July 1946. It replaced a wooden marker that read "Ici ont été fusillés 34 martyrs le 16 août 1944".
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