Former Prison Fontevraud Abby

Part of this enormous abbey complex was already in use as a prison after the French Revolution. During the Second World War, it was also used by the Germans. A plaque on one of the walls commemorates this period:

Inscription: ‘Dans cette ancienne Abbaye transformé en prison, des Résistants ont été incarcérés de 1940 à 1944 pour leur combat contre le nazisme. 14 sont mort de Mauvais traitements, 10 ont été fusillés et des centaines, déportés dans les camp de concentration, connurent l’horreur de le barbarie nazie.’

(In this former abbey, converted into a prison, Resistance fighters were incarcerated from 1940 to 1944 for their fight against Nazism. Fourteen died from ill-treatment, ten were shot, and hundreds were deported to concentration camps, experiencing the horror of Nazi barbarity.)

The prison was closed in 1963 and, after restoration, the abbey is now a cultural complex housing several museums.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Rónán Gallagher
• Photos: Rónán Gallagher
• - https://www.prisonhistory.org/2022/09/french-prison-history-in-unexpected-places/