Where Gestapo agents were tried in 1948

In 1878, Charles Rameau, president of the Société lilloise d'horticulture, bequeathed 300,000 francs to the city of Lille. His condition was that a building bearing his name be constructed to host exhibitions of flowers and fruit, as well as artistic exhibitions or musical festivals. The Palais Rameau was inaugurated on June 22, 1879, and quickly became a multi-purpose venue. It hosted floral exhibitions, concerts, and even dog and cat shows, notably featuring a national-level industrial art exhibition in 1882.

The building has seen diverse uses throughout its history. From 1930 to 1960, it was used for school examinations, and in 1945, it housed prisoners returning from Germany. On June 28, 1948, the Palais Rameau hosted the trial of five Gestapo agents from La Madeleine. The proceedings lasted four days, resulting in four death sentences and one acquittal. Later, the military tribunal of Lyon commuted two of the death sentences to life imprisonment.

Today, the Palais Rameau is undergoing a major transformation. Since 2021, the Junia student group, which includes several engineering schools, has been renovating the site. The project aims to transform the building into an incubator for the agriculture and food of tomorrow, creating spaces for research, experimentation, production, and awareness.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons