'Rails of memory' Holocaust memorial opens in French city of Lyon

"In Memory of the six million Jewish victims of the holocaust, which includes 1,5 million children, 1941-1945, 6100 came from our region" which adorns the "Rails de la memoire" (train tracks of memory) monument, in Lyon, France, inaugurated on 26 January 2025. AFP - ALEX MARTIN

A Holocaust memorial was inaugurated in Lyon on Sunday, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 6,000 Jews from the French city were killed between 1941-1945.

The work, entitled "Train Tracks of Memory" (Rails de la mémoire), is made up of 1,173 metres of railway tracks, symbolising the 1,173 kilometres separating Lyon from the former Auschwitz concentration camp, in Poland, where a million Jews were murdered between 1941 and 1945.