Photos

Take #2. Camp Joffre also called Camp Rivesaltes
Just in the friendly South of France, at the very large Rousillon plain you will find outside of Rivesaltes a 600 acres area that for decades (1938-1970) have been used as internment camp for not wanted persons in France. Over the decades they placed people - refugees, adults, children, families from the Spanish civil war here. Under WWII jews and gypsies. Finally by the collapse of their engagement in Algeire 1962, families/collaborators of Algerian orgin (so called Harkis).

This photo from the outside looking in through the fence by one of the gates.

Text from the memorial plate by the camp:
“Thousands of foreign Jews who had fled to France were arrested and interned in 1940 in the Rivesaltes camp, free zone. From August to October 1942, over 2,250 of them, including 110 children, were delivered to the Nazis in area occupied by the de facto authority, the so-called "government of the French state". Deported to the extermination camp of Auschwitz, almost all were murdered because they were born Jewish."

Find below an extract of a report of the French detention and internment camps as of 1941:
”RIVESALTES, created last January, is a detention camp for families and children; it holds 8,000 internees, 3,000 of whom are children. There are 3,000 Jews there, whose situation is no better than those living at Gurs. The living quarters in most of the camps consist of badly constructed huts, susceptible to wind, rain, and cold. These huts are 50 to 60 meters long and shelter up to 96 people in two tiers. The quarters, in general, are very badly maintained and, with only rare exceptions, are repugnantly filthy. It is impossible to get rid of the vermin that have taken hold there, since there does not exist in any camp a systematic disinfecting mechanism. In general, the internees possess only the garment and the underwear that they wear, and the hovels in which they live makes it impossible from them to properly look after their clothing. Furthermore, there are not enough washbasins, the water supply is often insufficient, and showers are too rare. Thus, for months, the internees have only been able to wash themselves hastily and incompletely. Some have not undressed for six months. One can imagine their present state of destitution. Access to lavatories is generally difficult because of the mud surrounding them. Almost everywhere they are so poorly maintained and so rarely disinfected that not only is there a dreadful stink but also a permanent risk of infection, especially during the hot season when flies and mosquitoes proliferate and spread contagious diseases. Rodents have appeared, which besides attacking the food reserves, also carry harmful bacteria.”
Ref. http://www.anglophone-direct.com

See also Take #1. Camp Joffre 1939 and Take #3. Camp Joffre 1962

The whole photo set >>

PHOTO_VIDEO: Camp Joffre 1939-1970>>