{{Short description|Railway station in Bobigny, France}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox station | name = Bobigny station | symbol = | symbol_location = | image = Gare Bobigny - Bobigny (FR93) - 2023-03-28 - 5.jpg | caption = The main building in March 2023 | address = Bobigny | borough = Seine-Saint-Denis | country = France | coordinates = {{coord| 48.9104|N|2.4301|E|type:landmark_scale:1000_region:FR|display=inline,title}} | elevation = | owned = Town of Bobigny | operator = | lines = Grande Ceinture line | opened = 1929 | closed = 1939 }} '''Bobigny station''' is a railway station in the French commune of Bobigny in the département of Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Closed to passenger traffic from 1939, it was used as a departure point for people being transported from Drancy internment camp to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. It was designated a ''monument historique'' by the French government in 2005.<ref name=base>{{Base Mérimée|PA93000018}}</ref>
==History== The station started as a simple halt on the Grande Ceinture line between Achères et Noisy-le-Sec on 2 January 1882.<ref>Carrière and Collardey (2002), p. 32</ref> It opened to freight traffic on 7 September 1928<ref>Carrière and Collardey (2002), p. 161</ref> and, after a proper station building had been constructed by contractors, Morosini, in 1929,<ref name=base/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://structurae.net/en/structures/bobigny-station|title=Bobigny station|publisher=Structurae| access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> it opened to passengers on 1 March 1932.<ref>Carrière and Collardey (2002), p. 174</ref> The ground floor of the building accommodated the ticket office and waiting room, while the upper levels accommodated the living quarters of the railway staff. Passenger services ceased on 15 May 1939.<ref>Carrière and Collardey (2002), p. 190</ref>
During the Second World War, between March 1942 and July 1943, Le Bourget station was used as the main departure point for people from France being transported from Drancy internment camp to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. However, from July 1943, the German authorities led by Alois Brunner, decided that Bobigny station would be more discreet and logistically better and therefore Bobigny station became the main departure point.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/ancienne-gare-de-deportation-de-bobigny |title= Ancienne gare de déportation de Bobigny|publisher=Chemins de Mémoire| access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref> Some 22,453 people were transported in 21 convoys from Bogigny station to the death camps. The last convoy was Convoy no. 77, which left on 31 July 1944,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Klarsfeld|first=Serge|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/930795315|title=Mémorial de la déportation des juifs de France|oclc=930795315}}</ref> shortly before the liberation of Paris in August 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.groupe-sncf.com/en/group/history-archives/bobigny-station-deportation-memorial|title=Visit the Bobigny Deportation Memorial|publisher=SNCF| access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref>
For much of the post-war period the site was used as a metal scrapyard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/GALLKR/KBOBI03.htm|title=The Train Station at Bobigny, France|publisher=University of South Florida | access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> However, in 2005, the town council of Bobigny acquired the site from SNCF for a nominal sum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sortiraparis.com/en/what-to-visit-in-paris/exhibit-museum/articles/286742-ile-de-france-the-memorial-at-the-former-bobigny-deportation-station|title=Île-de-France: the Memorial at the former Bobigny deportation station|publisher=Sortir à Paris| access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> Following the completion of extensive landscaping works, to a design by OKRA architects,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.okra.nl/news/former-deportation-station-bobigny-officially-opened/ |title=Former deportation station Bobigny officially opened|date=18 July 2023|publisher=OKRA|access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> the site re-opened in July 2023, as a memorial to the people who had been transported from the station to their deaths. The actor, Thierry Lhermitte, and two people who had survived the concentration camps were in attendance.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.leparisien.fr/seine-saint-denis-93/80-ans-apres-leur-deportation-deux-rescapes-inaugurent-le-memorial-de-la-gare-de-bobigny-19-07-2023-ELO2EQQ2H5EQHJGSQNXPTWCI2M.php|title=80 ans après leur déportation, deux rescapés inaugurent le mémorial de la gare de Bobigny|date=19 July 2023|newspaper=Le Parisien|access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://garedeportation.bobigny.fr/52/accueil.htm|title=Ancienne gare de déportation de Bobigny|access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tourisme93.com/document.php?pagendx=84&engine_zoom=PCUIDFC930001368|title=Mémorial de l'Ancienne Gare de Déportation de Bobigny|publisher=Seine-Saint-Denis Tourisme| access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref> The memorial incorporated 75 steles, symbolizing the 75,000 people transported from France, sculpted to a design by the historian, Thomas Fontaine.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/shoah-un-memorial-a-bobigny-dans-l-ancienne-gare-de-deportation-7105729|title=Shoah : un mémorial à Bobigny dans l'ancienne gare de déportation|date=18 July 2023|newspaper=Radio France|access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/index.php/fr/bobigny-des-traces-au-lieu-de-memoire|title=Bobigny: des traces au lieu de mémoire|publisher=Chemins de mémoire| access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite book|first1=Bruno |last1=Carrière|first2=Bernard |last2=Collardey|title=L'Aventure de la grande ceinture|publisher=La Vie du Rail|year=2002|isbn=978-2902808052}}
Category:Railway stations in Seine-Saint-Denis Category:Railway stations in France opened in 1929 Category:Monuments historiques of Seine-Saint-Denis