THE RAILS OF MEMORY
At the heart of Lyon, just steps away from Perrache station—where the deportation convoys once began their grim departure—now stands a monument that speaks to both the soul and history. “The Rails of Memory,” a powerful and moving architectural work, is much more than a simple memorial. It is a bridge between the past and the future, a place where the memory of the victims of the Shoah is materialized, ensuring it will never fade away.
Conceived by architects Quentin Blaising and Alicia Borchardt, this project is the result of two decades of struggle and perseverance, spearheaded by the “Association pour l’édification d’un Mémorial de la Shoah à Lyon”, which counted former deportees and Auschwitz survivors among its active and honorary members. In 2023, an international competition gave birth to this work, selected from 96 proposals from 25 countries. The result is a monument of striking power, where 1,173 meters of interwoven steel rails tell a tragic story: that of the 1,173 kilometers that separate Lyon from the Auschwitz- Birkenau camp.
Every detail of “The Rails of Memory” is designed to evoke the unspeakable. The materials used—rails, wooden sleepers, and ballast—are those of the railroads, symbolizing with raw force the horror of deportation. These elements, both real and symbolic, create a tangible connection with past events, inviting visitors to feel, touch, and remember.
Yet this memorial does more than pay tribute to the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah, 6,100 of whom were deported from the Rhône-Alpes region. It is also intended as an educational tool for future generations. Benches equipped with QR codes provide visitors with immediate access to information about the association and the purpose of this place.
In this way, “The Rails of Memory” does more than recall the past; it embodies a promise—the promise to never forget. It becomes an essential landmark of collective memory, a place where history comes alive, where the silence of the rails speaks louder than words.
The concept of this project was born from two fundamental analyses carried out in parallel right from the start of our reasoning.
The first is based on a study of the site. Located about a hundred meters from Lyon-Perrache station, this place carries significant historical weight, marked by the numerous deportations that took place here to the Drancy camp and later to the extermination camps. Yet, no visible element on site testifies to this poignant aspect of the site’s past. It was only by delving into the archives that we became aware of this little-known dimension of the site.
As architects, we are convinced that a memorial cannot be limited to conveying a universal message without being deeply rooted in the history of the place and revealing its singularities.
In this case, the immediate proximity of the station naturally led us to address the Shoah through one of the most tragic episodes of this period: the rail deportation.
The second major observation stems from archival research, which allowed us to rediscover the omnipresence of railways. Whether in the background of photographs or woven into the fabric of historical narratives, they consistently emerge as the common thread of this tragedy- the most obvious logistical foundation of that era.
For example, the iconic photograph of Auschwitz, although centered on the gates of this final destination, is dominated by the rails. These rails stand as the common denominator of all the camps, an embodiment of the industrial organization of this genocide.
When these two observations intersected, a clear and radical idea emerged: to associate the site’s specific historical memory with the symbol of the railways.
From that moment, it became clear to us that the elements of the railway should naturally become the material, structure and central message of the project, for several reasons :
It was essential that the memorial should be more than just an archive frozen in public space and time. On the contrary, it had to be a collective work, a living place that interacts with our daily lives. To revive and each and every train passenger the memory of the thousands of Jews deported 80 years ago from this very station.
This confrontation between past and present challenges and amplifies the message, making it deeply contextual.
The choice of railways allowed a plurality of symbols to be incorporated into the design. Once the concept was established, a long process of iterations followed to determine the exact form of the memorial. This process, both rigorous and fascinating, was built around hundreds of experiments: formal tests, geometric arrangements, and multiple spatial configurations.
The objective was clear: to give shape to a simple idea— one that might seem almost naive at first glance—while imbuing it with profound symbolic depth.
Each component of the railway naturally found its architectural counterpart. The rail, a defining element, became the emerging structure of the memorial. The sleeper was transformed into benches and flooring, while the ballast evokes the threshold, marking the transition from an ordinary outdoor space to a solemn and commemorative one, dedicated to collective memory.
The form emerged quite naturally. While it may evoke the image of a train wagon, that was not the initial intention.
The primary goal was to symbolically deconstruct the railway tracks that led to the camps and then recompose them into a memorial work.
Breaking the single, linear direction of the rails and transforming them into an artistic composition allows for multiple layers of interpretation.
The first is that of a metal monolith which, when contemplated as a whole, serves as a collective tribute. It embodies and represents the resilience of people capable of rebuilding themselves.
The second reading scale is that of accumulation: isolating two rails gives the impression of a single railway, paying tribute individually. In this way, the memorial evokes each destination and tragedy, allowing everyone to find in it an echo of their own history. For the design, it was crucial that the memorial was not perceived as an opaque block, but that it was integrated into the Place Carnot and interacted with the daily and seasonal variations in light.
The work draws its strength from the contrast between the raw material of the rails and the lace of light that passes through them, symbolising hope. These variations add an emotional and immersive dimension, with each rail leading towards the light.
The last is the rail itself. This tactile aspect, which we discussed beforehand, gives importance to the sensory characteristics of the rail, its weight, temperature, texture, shape and the noise associated with it, thus reinforcing the gravity of the event. We also reworked the rail by polishing its profile while leaving its depth raw. This treatment creates a strong contrast between the profile and the edge, giving the work an impression of lightness and preciousness. This play of textures captures the eye and mind of passers-by, inviting them to reflect on the role and significance of the rail.
The rail has the power to become a unit of measurement: this enabled us to incorporate a deeper symbolic dimension into the project.
The total length of rail used in the memorial spans 1,173 meters—one-thousandth of the direct aerial distance between the site and Auschwitz. Beyond its numerical precision, this measurement establishes a significant symbolic and geographical link between the two locations.
This aspect is crucial, as it serves as a reminder that the horror of the Shoah was not a distant abstraction confined to the extermination camps. It was a reality deeply embedded in our own territory, our streets, our train stations, and our history.
From an urban point of view, the memorial has two main facades. The first, facing the train station, serves as a collective tribute, bearing the inscription. The second, more focused on individual remembrance, will be in the future garden, featuring wooden sleeper benches that provide a quiet space for reflection and meditation.
A ‘passage’ made of rails cut lengthwise connects these two spaces, allowing visitors to walk through the memorial from one facade to the other, uniting the journey and the emotions it evokes. The two smaller lateral facades serve as visual anchors, drawing the eye from the transversal streets leading to Place Carnot.
