Cité de la Muette in Drancy: A report on a research visit to Paris
Stephanie Hesz-Wood
PhD Research Student in History
In the Spring and Summer of 2014—with the generous support of the Royal Holloway
Travel Award—I was able to carry out vital preliminary research in Paris, Drancy (in the
suburbs of Paris), and Compiègne. My research presents a social, cultural and political
history of the Cité de La Muette in Drancy. Infamous for its role in the Final Solution as
an interment camp and ‘gateway’ to Auschwitz for the French Jewry, the appropriated
(unfinished) building complex in fact had already assumed architectural notoriety—a
prefabricated integrated complex; a progressive departure for social housing—before the
demands of the Second World War exploited its original vision and capability.
My PhD thesis aims to explore the dynamic between architectural theory,
historical events, Enlightenment ideas, and post-modern thought. Comparative analysis
with other European cites (and sites of memory) will be drawn upon to add weight and
clarify to the core argument. The cities of Warsaw and Berlin will provide such a focus.
The backbone to the study, as noted, will be provided by sites in Paris. This visit was
therefore essential to my progress within the first year of doctoral study, providing the
chance to both gain access to museums and archives (necessary to my research as my
PhD progresses), and affording me the opportunity to conduct site-specific
investigations in locations around Paris, and the main site of enquiry: the Cité de la
Muette on the outskirts of Paris in Drancy.
As I will be using the Cité de La Muette as an heuristic device (exploring the
relationship between built environment, site, and history), my final thesis requires close
investigations of architectural structures, including memorials and ruins, in situ. While in
Drancy (from the centre of Paris, a thirty minute Métro ride to the end of the line,
followed by a ten minute car ride) I visited the recently open museum, Mémorial de la
Shoah, Drancy, met with their archivist, and visited their temporary exhibition, The
Graffiti of Drancy. The memorial museum, flanked in floor to ceiling windows, is situated
directly opposite the ‘horse-shoe’ central section of the original complex of buildings
constructed in the 1930s. The first hand experience of the Cité de la Muette—containing
a number of memorials erected at different periods of its post-war history—was an
invaluable experience, providing important insights for the organising framework for my
thesis. While in Paris, I was also able to locate key archives for future visits, including
the Departmental Archives at in Seine Saint-Denis and the Cité de l’Architecture et
Patrimoine in Paris.
In central Paris, I visited the main Holocaust archive at the Mémorial de la
Shoah, where specialist archivists were able to assist me with my research. I also visited
other sites of memory and memorials within Paris, including the memorial to the Vel’ d’
Hiv (the memorial to the round-ups of Jewish people on June 16th and 17th 1942);
Christian Boltanski’s memorial installation at the Musée de’art et d’Historie de Judaïsme;
the Mémorial de la Déportation, and memorial plaques on buildings in the Marias
district. I also visited the Memorial de l’Internment et de la Déportation in Compiègne—
a distance outside Paris. Research conducted on this study trip proved invaluable to the
progress of my PhD. I am very grateful for this award as it has allowed me to reach (and
pragmatically adapt) my core research questions in a timely and productive manner.