Rails of memory

The memorial is located just a hundred meters from Perrache station, a key site of the deportations from Lyon. Its design is based on a simple yet powerful idea: to reuse railway materials (the rails, the wooden sleeper and the ballast​​) as a metaphor for deportation. To reinforce this concept, the linear length of the rails used—1,173 meters—represents one-thousandth of the distance between the memorial site and the Auschwitz camps: 1,173 kilometers. These elements, both real and symbolic, create a tangible connection to past events, inviting visitors to feel, to touch, and to remember.