From 1945 onwards, SNCF’s management asked its establishments to honour their colleagues who fell victim to the war by installing commemorative plaques. Mainly placed in stations, they have over time become witnesses to railway workers’ history and memory.

For 20 years, the Cercle généalogique des cheminots (CGC) has been recording the commemorative plaques found in stations and railway premises. By photographing and archiving them and listing the names inscribed on them, the CGC helps preserve the memory of railway workers who fell victim to the two world wars and raise awareness of these sites of memory.

By October 2019, the CGC had visited 3,449 sites and recorded 1,885 plaques, 1,044 of which relate to the two world wars. These plaques bear 20,071 names, of which 14,865 relate to the period 1939-1945. As the same name may appear on several plaques, these figures do not correspond to the exact number of people who died.

For the Second World War, the number of railway workers who fell victim to the war is estimated at 10,000. Some died in uniform, in 1940 and then in 1944-1945, others in the course of their work or during acts of war, notably during bombings and attacks on trains. Railway workers’ families were also victims of bombings targeting railway infrastructure and its surroundings. Among these victims, 2,200 railway workers died as a result of repressive measures carried out by the occupying authorities or the French State.