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Origin and history

The house located in 36 Place de l'Église in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, in the English Channel, is a 20th century building built in the 1930s. Initially transformed into a hospice between 1935 and 1940, the building was requisitioned by German forces from June 1940 to serve as Kommandantur until 1944. After the Allied Disembarkation of June 6, 1944, he briefly became a headquarters of the Allied forces during the Liberation of the Commune.

After the war, the house was converted to collection (tax office) until 1958 and sold to an individual in 1962. Between 2004 and 2014, it houses a private museum dedicated to German occupation (1940-1944), exhibiting 250 historical objects. Closed in 2014, the museum is sold in 2016 to an American foundation of veterans, while its collection is dispersed at auction the same year. The building was listed as a historical monument on 1 March 2017 for its 1942 frescoes and symbolic role.

The building preserves murals made in 1942 by an unknown author, illustrating German propaganda in this strategic area of the Atlantic Wall. These frescoes, as well as the traces of successive occupation (German and then allied), make this a rare testimony in situ of World War II. The house, although private, remains a memorial site linked to Normandy's military history.

Today, the house is no longer open to the public, but its inscription to historical monuments protects its original elements, including frescoes and architectural remains of periods of occupation. Its exact address (36 place de l'Église) and its Insee code (50509) place it in the department of the English Channel, in Lower Normandy (now Normandy region).

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