Jewish Detainees Museum and Saint Martin Jewish Cemetery, Mauritius

5.0 (9 reviews) Spent 1-2 hours Ranking #1 in Riviere Noire District Speciality Museums • History Museums

Jewish Detainees Museum Bambous

Having visited most of the museums in Mauritius, we came across this little gem in Bambous. Wow, this museum was truly beautiful. We had no idea that Mauritius, when under British rule, harboured Jewish detainees 1940-1945. In fact, many Mauritians have no idea that this took place. Vanessa, our guide, was incredibly helpful and very informative with the story of what had happened in the Second World War as to why these people were sent to Mauritius. Expand your knowledge. This was completely free and well worth a visit.
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Address

Raymond Rivet Street, Bambous.

Mobile

+230 626 2503

Current local date and time now

Monday, May 13, 2024, 6:02

User Ratings

5.0 based on (9 reviews)

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Reviews

5finchley5traveller 5:00 PM Jul 5, 2016
Interesting museum in an unlikely place.
The Jewish Detainees Museum and Cemetery is definitely worth a visit and I am glad we took the time to go there. The small museum is located in a chapel at the entrance to the Saint Martin Cemetery. It tells the story of 1600 Jewish refugees who were attempting to escape from Nazi occupied Eastern Europe and were subsequently detained on Mauritius in the Beau Bassin prison from 1940 until 1945. It has a recently installed and modern exhibition, all in English. We found the photographs and information about prison life fascinating – the community had a school, youth club, workshop, orchestra and synagogue. There were stories about some of the prisoners, both during the camp and after they were released and we found these personal accounts really moving. Vanessa, who is in charge of the museum, gave us incredibly interesting and additional information about the history of the camp and the people interned there. We took a short walk around the Jewish cemetery which is next to the museum. We really enjoyed this trip as it was something quite unexpected on an island in the Indian Ocean! It is especially worthwhile if you are interested in the plight of refugees and World War 2 history. You will need to go by car or taxi as the Saint Martin Cemetery it is located out of the small towns. It was about 25 minutes from Port Louis and we spent just over an hour there. It is difficult to find opening hours on the web so I have given them here - Wed and Friday from 10.00 to 16.00, Sundays from 10.00 to 13.00. Access to the cemetery is at all times. There was a small entrance charge for the museum.
5DecadentDodo 5:00 PM Mar 8, 2018
The Last Brother
I was given a copy of The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah for Christmas by my partner as we were booked to go on holiday to Mauritius. Decided to start reading it as I was over there and discovered the very sorry story of the Jewish refugees. So we jumpted in the car and headed off in search of this cemetery. A small museum off the beaton track not mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide, this museum tells the story of Jewish refugees refused entry into Palestine at the begining of WW2 by the British, who were then deported and imprisoned on Mauritius. A little know historical fact giving a very diiferent perspective to this tropical idyll.