Mémorial Hélène et Victor Basch, Wartime resistance memorial in Neyron, France.
The Mémorial Hélène et Victor Basch stands at Combe de Crépieux beneath a viaduct bearing their names. The site marks where this couple met their deaths in 1944.
The memorial was erected in 1945 at the exact spot in the Combe de Crépieux where Victor Basch, a Sorbonne professor and president of the Ligue des droits de l'homme, and his wife Hélène Fürt were shot on 10 January 1944. Paul Touvier, head of the Lyon militia, took part in the arrest with Joseph Lécussan and Gestapo lieutenant Moritz; Lécussan admitted shooting Victor Basch, while Gonnet fired two pistol bullets into Hélène. The monument was moved to its present site under the viaduct during its construction.
The carved inscription names Victor Basch as a Sorbonne professor and president of the Ligue des droits de l'homme, and Hélène Fürt as his companion, both born in 1863 and shot in 1944. The text ends with the appeal "N'oublions jamais les victimes de la haine raciale". A low trough in front of the stone holds a bouquet.
The memorial stands at 11 chemin de Barry, in the Combe de Crépieux, beneath the Hélène-et-Victor-Basch viaduct, partly in Neyron. It is reached from the road below the viaduct, not from the deck above. The stone face and its carved inscription are read from the front, where a low trough holds flowers.
The memorial was first erected in 1945 at the exact spot of the execution. It was moved to its present site at 11, chemin de Barry during construction of the Hélène-et-Victor-Basch viaduct, which now partly stands in Neyron.
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