Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Canadian-style house is part of the Provisional City of Soye, an emergency district built between 1945 and 1947 in Ploemeur to house the victims of the bombings of Lorient during the Second World War. Located in the park of the castle of Soye on 10 hectares, this city initially housed 150 French barracks type 534.10, supplemented in 1946 by 252 Canadian barracks, finally reaching 307 units in 1962. Designed for a 10-year period, it was occupied until 1985, with destruction until 1991.

The city was home to about 4,000 people and had infrastructure such as shops, a school and a washhouse. After its abandonment, the Memoir de Soye association restored three barracks (French 534.10 in 2007, American UK100 in 2014, Canadian in 2016) and created a micro-museum. The Canadian barrack, typical of emergency homes, was listed as a Historic Monument in 2019, while the site now offers guided tours since 2014.

Today, the park preserves three restored huts, a concrete wash, fire-fighting tanks and the foundations of two old huts. This heritage illustrates the social history of post-war reconstruction in Brittany, marked by temporary solutions that have become sustainable. The city of Soye also symbolizes the resilience of the people of Lorient, including the cartoonist Jacques-Armand Cardon, who lived there.

External links