Sentiers du Patrimoine ®
Génicourt
Du parking de la mairie, voir la plaque sur l’ancienne piscine. Remonter la rue des Sablons jusqu’à la place de la Libération et voir l’église Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul. Poursuivre jusqu’à l’ancienne maison seigneuriale .
Prochain point : lat : 49.08886, long. 2.06794
During the second World war, German officers occupied Génicourt and set up a Kommandantur. At the Libération,it was abandoned. Among the ruins was a pool of 16 metres long and 2 metres widewhich was used by pilots in case of immersion. The inhabitants of the village, supported by the Mairie, had the idea of transforming it into a swimming pool and to build next to it another pool with the reglementary measurements of 25 metres. The project was at the heart of the inhabitants’ energy and volunteer commitment as well of that of entrepreneurs close by who got together to erect the swimming pool. Even the motorbike police brigade of Pontoise took part in the project, coming during the weekends to help dig out the new pool. The Pierre Lefèvre Primary School was erected on the foundations of the old Kommandantur where you can still find some very characteristic vaulted rooms from these German constructions.
This experience of local commitment and solidarity enabled the inauguration of the Génicourt swimming pool, which met great success from the start. The first lifeguard and instructor, M. Berlioux, was the trainer and father of Monique Berlioux, France’ swimming champion in the 1940’s. In its best days, the swimming pool would host up to 6000 visitors per month. However, despite the roofing of the pools in 1982, the maintenance and upkeep became more and more expensive. After the 1999 storm which damaged it badly, there wasn’t enough money to have it reopen and the pool was unfortunately demolished in the end.
