Themes presented
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LA COUPOLE tackles three major themes that take you on a voyage of discovery into the heart of 20th century European history.

The Occupation of 1940-1944 in the North of France
The total war (1939-1945): the German secret weapons
The "Cold War" and the conquest of space

The Occupation of 1940-1944 in the North of France

In May-June 1940, from the Ardennes to the Somme, raged the main battle that put an end to the French campaign: the implementation of the German "Blitzkrieg", the evacuation from Dunkirk, the exodus of the civilian populations…

Films and photographs of the era enable us to retrace the reality of the "dark years":

the massive presence of the occupying troops,
the problems of daily life,
the resistance of the people,
the Nazi police terror that led to the execution or transportation of thousands of
French citizens.

The reconstruction of a shop front in Calais and the dining room of a worker’s house gives an idea of the scarcities and the low living standards of large sections of the population.

On a replica of the "execution wall" in the Citadel in Lille, there is the poignant letter written by a young teacher of 21; three hours before falling under the German bullets, he declares his belief in a future Franco-German reconciliation.

Symbol of the Liberation, a Citroën "traction avant" is positioned in its historical environment:

the fighting in the summer of 1944,
the destruction that hit towns and villages,
the reconstruction …

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The total war (1939-1945): the German secret weapons

The peaceful dream of space travel was hijacked during the Thirties by Nazi power. In Peenemünde, von Braun’s men built the first great rocket in history, the V2, a weapon designed to be the instrument of a war of terror against civilian populations.

Through the new German weapons programme, the very nature of a total war is revealed:


the mobilisation of scientists, manufacturers, manpower – in this case prisoners in the
Dora camp - and propaganda,
the unleashing of methodical military campaigns against target towns.

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The "Cold War" and the conquest of space

The engineers at Peenemünde were co-opted by the victors in 1945 (Americans, Russians, as well as … French). They participated in the big military missile programmes of the "Cold War": the rocket, coupled with the atom bomb, became one of the essential bases of the "balance of terror". The same men were also involved in the great peaceful adventure of the conquest of space.

Models of rockets and magnificent images (from the collection of NASA and from Star City in Moscow) help the visitor to follow the major stages in this amazing adventure.