The historical research
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The research which led to the achievement of the historical
programme was conducted over the ten years that preceded the opening
of LA COUPOLE to the public, in 1997.
Definition of the programme
The definition of the main lines of the programme and the approval
of all the texts (museographic panels, audio-guide system, commentaries
for the audiovisual documentaries) were the responsibility of an
ethics committee comprising elected representatives from the local communities
and historians specialising in the Second World War in France and abroad
(Jean-Pierre Azéma, José Gotovitch, Étienne
Dejonghe, Philip Reed, ...).
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The archives
The archive research – particularly the iconography (photographs,
films) – devising and drawing up the information media (panels,
documentaries, audio-guide texts), were entrusted to Yves Le
Maner, History Professor.
The texts were subjected to initial reading or listening comprehension
tests by college and secondary school classes.
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The historical resources
Almost 10,000 photographs and 400 hours of
films of original archives on video were identified and acquired
from around thirty French and foreign archive centres (Imperial
War Museum in London, Bundesarchiv in Berlin, National
Archives in Washington, Deutsches Museum in Munich, Musée
Royal de l’Armée in Brussels, Archives nationales
du Canada in Ottawa, ...) to constitute the documentary material required
to produce the scenography and the programme of documentary films. The
latter are of two types:
 
on the one hand, films or slide shows that last 20 minutes designed
to provide information
summaries
on the main themes covered;
on the other hand, short films (6 to 12 minutes) that expand on certain
aspects briefly
touched on in the summary films.
All the documentaries were made at Fort d’Ivry, near Paris,
by professionals from the Etablissement Cinématographique et
Photographique des Armées (now ECPA-D).
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