Camp Vernet
Le Vernet Internment Camp, or Camp Vernet, was a concentration camp[1] in Le Vernet, Ariège, near Pamiers, in the French Pyrenees. It was originally built in June 1918 to house French colonial troops serving in World War I but when hostilities ceased it was used to hold German and Austrian prisoners of war.[2]
Between the wars, it served as a military depot.[2] Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, in February 1939, it was put to a new use. It became a reception camp for Republicans fleeing from Francisco Franco's armies after the collapse of the Second Spanish Republic. At this time, it held mainly former soldiers from the Republican Durruti Division.[1]
With the outbreak of World War II, the role of the camp was expanded. It was used to house "undesirable" foreigners, in particular, anti-fascist intellectuals and former members of the International Brigades.[1] After the Fall of France on 25 June 1940, it was taken over by the pro-Nazi Vichy France authorities, to house "all foreigners considered suspect or dangerous to the public order".[1]
From 1942, Le Vernet was used as a holding centre for Jewish families awaiting deportation to Nazi labour and extermination camps.[1] The final transport took place in June 1944 and took the remaining prisoners to Dachau concentration camp.[1] One source says that "about 40,000 persons of 58 nationalities were interned in the camp".[1]
Notable prisoners
- Max Aub
- Kurt Julius Goldstein
- Jesekiel David Kirszenbaum
- Leon Degrelle
- Arthur Koestler, who wrote about it in Scum of the Earth (1941) and The Invisible Writing.
- Rudolf Leonhard, German playwright and communist
- Heinrich Rau
- Sascha Schapiro
- Miguel García Vivancos
Sources and footnotes
- (English) Ariège history, website in English]
- (French) Ariège history, Chemins de Memoire, in French
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Le Vernet Internment Camp. |
- List of Nazi-German concentration camps
Coordinates: 43°11′43″N 1°36′30″E / 43.19528°N 1.60833°E
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