Camp Gurs was an internment and refugee camp constructed by the French government in 1939 in Southwest France after the fall of Catalonia at the end of the Spanish Civil War to control those who fled Spain out of fear of retaliation from Francisco Franco's regime. At the start of the World War II, the French government interned Germans and citizens of other Axis Powers, as well as French nationals who were considered to have dangerous political ideas or who were imprisoned for ordinary crimes. Japanese internment camp in Canada, during World War II Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without due process of law and a trial. ... Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide A refugee camp is a camp built up by governments or NGOs (such as the ICRC) to receive refugees. ... This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. ... Anthem: Els Segadors Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan, Spanish; In Aran Valley, also Aranese Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 6th  32,114 km²  6. ... Combatants Spanish Republic CNT-FAI UGT POUM Soviet Union International Brigades Spanish State Falangists Carlists Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Commanders Manuel Azaña Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Francisco Franco Casualties Civilians killed/wounded = hundreds of thousands The Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 17, 1936 to April... Franco redirects here. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

After the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940, it became a concentration camp for Jews of any nationality except French, as well as people considered dangerous by the government. After France's liberation, Gurs housed German prisoners of war and French collaborators. Before its final closure in 1946, the camp also held former Spanish Republican fighters who participated in the Resistance against the German occupation, because their decided will to end the fascist dictatorship imposed by Franco made them threatening in the eyes of the Allies. For other uses of Vichy, see Vichy (disambiguation). ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... At the start of World War II, in September 1939, Spain had only recently come through its bitter civil war. ... Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. ... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The Camp

After the victory of Franco over the Spanish Republic in April 1, 1939, many combatants, together with their relatives and other people who feared Francoist repression, fled to France. The French government built various camps to give shelter these refugees. The most important camp was the one at Gurs, built adjacent to the city of Gurs, in the region of Aquitaine in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 84 kilometers east of the Atlantic coast and 34 kilometers north of the Spanish border. Flag of the Second Spanish Republic This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Gurs was a large concentration camp in Pau, France. ... Capital Bordeaux Land area¹ 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset (PS) (since 1998) Population  - Jan. ... Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Gascon: Pirenèus-Atlantics; Basque: Pirinio-Atlantiarrak or Pirinio-Atlantikoak) is a département in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ...

For the site they chose an extended hill with a flat back, of clay soil, whose agricultural use was virtually nil: a little bit of corn and pasture for cattle. Construction began on March 15, 1939, and was still incomplete when the first group of refugees arrived on April 4. The Gay Head cliffs in Marthas Vineyard are made almost entirely of clay. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ...

Conditions

The camp measured about 1,400 meters in length and 200 in width, an area of 28 hectares. The only street spanned the length of the camp. Both sides of the street were surrounded by parcels of 200 meters by 100 meters, named îlots (blocks; literally, "islets"). There were seven îlots on one side and six on the other. The parcels were separated from the street and from each other by wire fences. The fences were doubled in the back part of the parcels, forming a passageway in which the exterior guards circulated. The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... A hectare (symbol ha) is a unit of area, equal to 10,000 square meters, commonly used for measuring land area. ... City Blocks are a part of the fictional universe recounted in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD. // Overview Also known as starscrapers or stratoscrapers (compare skyscraper), they are the most common form of mass-housing in Mega-City One, averaging a population of...

In each parcel stood about 30 cabins; there were 382 cabins altogether. This particular type of cabin had been invented for the French army during the First World War; they had been built close to the front but outside the range of the enemy artillery, and they served to accommodate soldiers during the few days between when the soldiers arrived at their barracks and awaited their trench assignment. They were assembled from thin planks of wood and covered with tarred fabric, all identical in construction and size. They were not provided with windows or other insulation. They did not offer protection from the cold, and the tarred fabric soon began to deteriorate, allowing rainwater to enter the cabins. Closets were nonexistent, and residents slept on sacks of straw gathered place on the floor. Despite the fact that each cabin had an area of only 25 square meters, a cabin was made to lodge up to 60 people during times of peak occupancy. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... A square metre (US spelling: square meter) is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 metre long. ...

Food was scarce and poor in quality; there was no sanitation, running water, or plumbing. The camp had poor drainage. The area, due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, receives a great deal of rain, which made the clayey camp permanently muddy. The inmates made paths with the few stones they could find in a poor attempt to keep the mud in check. Pieces of wire that had been stripped of their barbs were placed between the cabins and the toilets and used by the refugees like the railing of a staircase, to maintain balance on the unsteady ground.

In each îlot there were rudimentary toilets, not very different from the sort of troughs that would be used to feed animals. There was also a platform about 2 meters high, which one climbed using steps, and upon which were built additional toilets. Under the platform there were large tubs that collected excrement. Once they were full they transported out of the camp in carts. The wire fences were two meters high; they were not electrified, and they did not have lookout towers filled with guards pointing their machine guns at the internees. The atmosphere was radically different from a extermination camp: there were no executions or displays of sadism on the part of the guards. Majdanek - crematorium Extermination camp (German Vernichtungslager) was the term applied to a group of death camps set up by Nazi Germany during World War II for the express purpose of killing the Jews of Europe, although members of some other groups whom the Nazis wished to exterminate, such as Roma...

Around the camp there were small buildings that housed the administration and the guard corps. The administration and care of the camp was conducted under military auspices until the fall of 1940, when a civil administration was installed by the Vichy regime. 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

Internees

Originating from Spain

The inmates who arrived from Spain were differentiated into four groups with French denominations, here translated into English:

Brigadists

They had belonged to the International Brigade fighting for the Second Spanish Republic. Because of their nationalities (German, Austrian, Czech, etc.) it was not possible for them to return to their countries of origin. Some managed to flee and many others ended up enlisting in the French Foreign Legion.

Basques

They were gudaris (Basque nationalists) who had escaped from the siege of Santander and, transferred by sea to the Republican side, had continued fighting outside of their homeland. Due to the proximity of Gurs to their homeland, practically all managed to find local backing that permitted them to abandon the camp and find work and refuge in France.

Pilots

They were members of the ground personnel of the Republican air force. Possessing a mechanical trade, it was easy for them to find French businessmen who gave them work, allowing them to leave the camp.

Spaniards

They were farmers and had trades that were in low demand. They had no one in France who was interested in them. They were a burden for the French government and therefore they were encouraged, in agreement with the Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so and were turned over to the Francoist authorities in Irún. From there they were transferred to the Miranda de Ebro camp for purification according to the Law of Political Responsibilities.

From 1939 to the autumn of 1940, the language that dominated in the camp was Spanish. The inmates created an orchestra and constructed a sports field. On July 14, 1939, Bastille Day, the 17,000 internees of Spanish origin arranged themselves in military formation in the sports field and sang La Marseillaise, followed by sports presentations and choral and instrumental concerts. Flag of the International Brigades Blason of the International Brigades Fifteenth International Brigade redirects here. ... Flag of the Second Spanish Republic This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion Étrangère) is a unique unit within the French Army established in 1831. ... The Gernika oak is a symbol of Basque freedoms. ... For alternate uses, see Santander. ... Dont confuse Irun with Iruñea, the Basque name of Pamplona. ... Miranda de Ebro is an industrial city in the north-east of the province of Burgos in Spain on the border with the province of Álava and the autonomous community of La Rioja. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... The Champs-Élysées decorated with flags for the 14 July. ... La Marseillaise IPA: is the national anthem of France. ...

The German members of the International Brigade edited a newspaper in German by the name of "Lagerstimme K.Z. Gurs" of which there were more than 100 editions. The inhabitants of neighboring places could come to the camp and sell food to the inmates. For a time, the commander permitted some imprisoned women to rent a horse and cart and let them leave to camp to buy provisions more economically. There was a postal service and visits were also occasionally permitted.

"Undesirables"

At the start of World War II, the French government decided to also use the camp to house ordinary prisoners and citizens of enemy countries. The first contingent of these arrived at Gurs May 21, 1940, eleven days after the German government initiated its western campaign with the invasion of the Netherlands. To the Spaniards and Brigadists who still remained in the camp, were added: May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ...

• Germans who were found in France, without regard to ethnicity or political orientation, as foreign citizens of an enemy power. Among them stands out a significant number of German Jews who had fled the very Nazi regime .
• citizens of countries who were in the orbit of the Reich, like Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Fascist Italy, or Poland.
• French activists of the left (trade unionists, socialists, anarchists, and especially, communists), who were considered dangerous under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; the first of these arrived June 21, 1940, and the majority were relocated in other camps before the end of the year.
• pacifists who refused to work in the war industry.
• representatives of the French extreme right who sympathized with the Nazi regime.
• ordinary prisoners evacuated from prisons in the north of the country ahead of the German advance.
• prisoners waiting trial for common crimes.

In contrast to the Spaniards, for whom there were generally sympathy, the internees from the second waves were known as "les indésirables", the undesirables. German Jews have lived in Germany for over 1700 years, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of anti-Semitic violence, culminating in the Holocaust and the near-destruction of the Jewish community in Germany and much of Europe. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Flag of the Protectorate The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (in German: Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren, in Czech: Protektorát ÄŒechy a Morava) was the ethnic-Czech protectorate (in fact a puppet state) of the German Reich established in the central parts of Bohemia and Moravia. ... Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Left-Right politics. ... ... Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ...

Regime de Vichy

With the armistice between France and Germany in June 1940, the region in which the camp was situated formed part of the territory governed by the Vichy government, passing over to the civil authority. The military commander, before turning over command, burned the records in order to make it difficult for the new French government to locate and persecute many of the inmates who, informed of the change in command, had fled, disappearing among the French population who gave them shelter. A later consequence of the burning of the records however, was that once the war was over it made it difficult for many ex-prisoners to claim the compensation that was due to them for having been incarcerated. A white flag is traditionally used to represent a truce. ...

Seven hundred of the prisoners, interned only for the reason of their nationality or for being sympathetical to the Nazi regime, were liberated between August 21 — the date of the arrival of the inspection commission sent by the German government to Gurs — and October. The Vichy government used the camp to lock up: August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

• political dissidents.
• Jews who were not French nationals.
• German Jews deported by the SS from Germany.
• persons who had illegally crossed the border of the zone occupied by the Germans.
• Spaniards fleeing Francoist Spain.
• Spaniards who had already been in the camp, released in the fall of 1940, roamed around the country unemployed.
• Spaniards coming from other camps that had been condemned for being inhabitable or due to their scarce contingent.
• stateless persons.
• people involved in prostitution .
• homosexuals.
• gypsies.
• indigents.

The infamous double-sig rune SS insignia. ... A stateless person is someone with no citizenship or nationality. ... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

Jews deported from Baden

In October 1940 began the most painful period of the camp. The Nazi Gauleiter ("governor") from the Baden region of Germany had also been named Gauleiter of the neighboring French region of Alsace. In Baden resided some 7,500 Jews; they were mainly women, children, and the elderly, given that the young and middle-aged men had fled from Germany or had disappeared in the Nazi concentration camps. 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau. ... gay ... Location Administration Capital Strasbourg Regional President Adrien Zeller (UMP) (since 1996) Départements Bas-Rhin Haut-Rhin Arrondissements 13 Cantons 75 Communes 903 Statistics Land area1 8,280 km² Population (Ranked 14th)  - January 1, 2005 est. ... See also the related article on Nazi concentration camps The following is a list of German concentration camps during World War II. are marked with pink, while major concentration camps of are marked with blue. ...

The Gauleiter received word that the camp at Gurs was mostly empty, and on October 25, 1940, it was decided to evacuate the Jews from Baden (between 6,500 and 7,500) to Gurs as part of Operation Wagner-Bürckel. They remained locked up there under French administration. The living conditions were even more difficult, and during the year that they remained in the camp, more than a thousand fell victim to illness, especially typhus and dysentery. October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Epidemic typhus. ... Dysentery is an illness (formerly known as the bloody flux or simply flux) involving severe diarrhea that is often associated with blood in the feces. ...

Of the survivors, some 700 managed to escape and almost 2.000 finally obtained visas that permitted them to emigrate. The rest, several thousand, remained in the camp, and males in the best physical condition were imprisoned in French work gangs.

The deportation of the German Jews to Gurs in October 1940 is a unique case in the history of the Holocaust. On one hand, it deals with the only deportation of Jews carried out toward the west of Germany by the Nazi regime. On the other hand, the Wannsee conference in which the above mentioned extermination program was delineated, did not take place until January 1942. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Holocaust. ... The Wannsee Villa, location of the Wannsee Conference, is now a Holocaust museum. ...

Precise information on the motive of this deportation have not been found. There only exists the suspicion that it could have involved setting into motion the Madagascar Plan, an initiative of Adolf Eichmann designed to transport the entire Jewish population of Europe to the island of that name. If this was the case, this deportation would be the only known attempt to carry this plan forward. The protests of the French government avoided subsequent actions in this direction. The Madagascar Plan was a policy of the Third Reich government of Nazi Germany to forcibly relocate the entire Jewish population of Europe to the French island colony of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. ... Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940. ... European redirects here. ... Motto: Tanindrazana, Fahafahana, Fandrosoana  (Malagasy) Ancestral-land, Liberty, Progress Anthem: Ry Tanindraza nay malala ô Oh, Our Beloved Ancestral-land Capital Antananarivo latd=18 Largest city Antananarivo Malagasy, French[1] Government Republic  - President Marc Ravalomanana  - Prime Minister Jacques Sylla Independence from France   - Date 26 June 1960  Area  - Total 587,041 km...

Aid Organizations

Beginning December 20, 1940, various humanitarian aid organizations intervened to lend their services: in addition to the Basque government in exile, posts were set up in Gurs belonging to the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit, Jewish French organizations tolerated by the Vichy regime, and Protestant organizations such as the Quakers, CIMADE, and the YMCA. Despite the fact that the camp was situated in a region where the great majority of the population was Catholic, not one Catholic organization offered its help to the inmates. On February 15, 1941, the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (Children’s Aid Society) installed a medical post and obtained permission to take numerous children away from Gurs, who would be housed in private homes throughout France. December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... YMCAs in the United States and Canada use this logo. ...

The Camp Day to Day

It was not difficult to flee the camp: the wire fences were not very thick and security was not very harsh. But poorly dressed, without money, and without knowledge of the local language, people who fled were quickly found and returned to camp. Here they were imprisoned for a time as punishment in an îlot called de los represaliados (of those suffering reprisals). In case of recidivism, they were sent to another camp. But an internee who could count on outside help could successfully escape, whether to Spain or a shelter on a flat in France. There were 755 who managed to escape.

Deportations to the East

Once the program for the eradication of the Jews was put into motion in the camps in Poland, the Vichy regime turned over the 5,500 Jews who were located in Gurs to the Nazis. On July 18, 1942, the SS captain, Theodor Dannecker, inspected the camp and then ordered that they prepare themselves to be transported to Eastern Europe. Beginning on August 6, they were sent in convoys to the Drancy deportation camp, on the outskirts of Paris, and later many were murdered in extermination camps. The majority of them were sent to Auschwitz. Theodor Dannecker (born 27 March 1913 in Tübingen; died 10 December 1945 in Bad Tölz) was an SS Hauptsturmführer and one of Adolf Eichmanns associates. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... The Drancy deportation camp was an infamous temporary prison camp in the city of Drancy, north of Paris, France. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ...

Liberated France

Upon the withdraw of the Germans from the region due to the advance of the Allied invasion of France, the French who took charge of Gurs locked up their countrymen accused of collaborating with the German occupiers as well as Spaniards, who having found refuge in France, had been fighting in the French Resistance against the German occupation. These men were not trying enter into an armed conflict on the French-Spanish border and were not interested in confronting Franco but the French feared they may and so held these Spaniards in Gurs for a short time. It also briefly housed German prisoners of war. Bold textItalic textLink title // Headline text Headline text Headline text == The cross of Lorraine used by the French Resistance as a symbolic reference to Joan of Arc. ...

Dismantling

The camp was dismantled in 1946, and fell into obscurity. The hill has since been covered in dense vegetation that still does not manage to absorb the water that flows from the clay soil. One can see a few stones that were paths and the bases of cabins. Groups of volunteers have begun to remove the overgrown weeds to expose the misery in which some 64,000 people were forced to live during the various époques of the camp. 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Gurs camp today

L´Amicale and L´Apell de Gurs

In 1979, upon the 40th anniversary of the creation of the camp, youths from the region started to air the forgotten history of the camp through conferences, to which they invited old inmates. The event was well-publicized by the French, German, and Spanish press; as a result, the next year there was a reunion at Gurs on the 20th and 21st of June. The reunion drew a hundred former detainees, who came from many countries. Also in attendance were people associated with the French resistance and survivors of the Nazi death camps. Together, these people created an organization called L'Amicale de Gurs. This organization developed an official newsletter called L'apell de Gurs, which was full of emphatic catchphrases such as ... Gurs, a symbol of combat and the suffering of the peoples of Europe ... Gurs, a concentration camp, calls for vigilance, for unity, and for action; actions taken so that man can live in freedom and dignity. This page refers to the year 1979. ...

Since this date, a commemorative ceremony has been held annually. Some of the main participants in this ceremony have been Jewish organizations, representatives of citizens of Baden, former exiles, their relatives, and people of diverse nationalities who, by their presence, hope to point out the duty of every generation to remember the criminal acts of the dictatorial regimes that assaulted Europe during the 20th century. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Current State

There is in the camp a reconstruction of a cabin with a triangular section, made with thin slabs of wood covered in tarred cardboard (?), as a testimony to the hundreds of identical cabins that were lived in by the inmates. A few monuments recall the camp of the Gursiens, a name that was first used by the inhabitants of nearby towns to refer to the inmates and that was ultimately adopted by the inmates themselves.

Cemetery

The thick vegetation that covers the area occupied by the Gurs ilots contrasts sharply with the tranquility of the large Jewish cemetery paid for and exquisitely maintained by the German cities which were the original homes of the deported German-Jewish populations.

The French Association of Jewish communities of the Basses-Pyrénées which had, after the liberation in 1944, taken charge of Gurs' upkeep, erected a momument to the camp's victims. But as the years passed the cemetery itself fell into disrepair. The mayor of Karlsruhe, upon receiving word of this in 1957, took the initiative to have his city assume responsibility for the conservation of the camp, supported by the Jewish associations of Baden. Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Gascon: Pirenèus-Atlantics; Basque: Pirinio-Atlantiarrak or Pirinio-Atlantikoak) is a département in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. ... Karlsruhe (population 283,959 in 2005) is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border. ...

He got in touch with the parts of Baden that had deported their Jewish citizens to Gurs so that they could participate in the project. The French state, for its part, delivered control of the cemetery for 99 years to the federation of Jewish organizations of Baden. The restored cemetery was opened on March 26th, 1963. The German cities of Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Pforzheim, Konstanz and Weinheim pay the economic costs of the cemetery's upkeep. Freiburg city from Schlossberg Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Breisgau region, on the western edge of the southern Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald) with about 214,000 inhabitants. ... Mannheim is a city in Germany. ... A view of the city from the castle (Schloss) The castle (Schloss) above the town Shopping district Heidelberg and the other cities of the Neckar valley View from the so called alley of philosophers (Philosophenweg) towards the Old Town, with Heidelberg Castle, Heiliggeist Church and the Old Bridge Heidelberg is... Pforzheim is a town of 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-west Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. ... Konstanz in 1925 seen from the lake Schnetztor, a section of the former city wall Another gate from city wall Shops in Konstanz The Konzilgebäude in Konstanz Konstanz (in English formerly known as Constance) is a university town of around 80,000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake... Weinheim (Bergstrasse) is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany with 43 000 inhabitants. ...

Since the year 1985, the camp has had a memorial to the fighters of the Spanish Civil War who were interned in the camp; the camp's cemetery has a section set aside for members of this group who have passed away. In the year 2000, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge performed major renovations on this cemetery. Combatants Spanish Republic CNT-FAI UGT POUM Soviet Union International Brigades Spanish State Falangists Carlists Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Commanders Manuel Azaña Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Francisco Franco Casualties Civilians killed/wounded = hundreds of thousands The Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 17, 1936 to April...

Figures on Internees at Gurs

April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

Notable prisoners

Among the prisoners of the camp were:

• Hannah Arendt
• Marie Arning
• Ernst Busch
• Walter Hochmuth
• Maria Leitner
• Alexandra Ramm-Pfemfert
• Charlotte Salomon
• Ernst Scholz
• Thea Sternheim
• Luise Straus-Ernst

Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) was a German political theorist. ... Ernst Busch (22 January 1900 - 8 June 1980) was a singer and actor. ... Charlotte Salomon (1917-1943) was a German Jewish artist born in Berlin. ...

References

• Translated from the article in the Spanish Wikipedia.
• Laharie, Claude (1993), Gurs internment camp, 1939—1945, an ignored aspect of Vichy history. Biarritz: Atlantic Publishing Company. ISBN 2-84-127000-9.

Notes

• The archive of Departmental records of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in Pau holds the camp archive featuring official communications with the ministery or the prefecture, the deceased roll, cards on internees, censured letters, personal cards wiht data on escapes, illnesses, misbehaviour,..., cultural events, data about the aid organisations, etc.
• In Oloron there is a museum dedicated to the internment camp. It features letters and diaries written by internees, which have been released from government records.
• Jorge Semprún wrote the 2006 theatrical work ''Gurs: A European Tragedy" at the request of the Central Theater of Seville, the National Theater of Nice and the Campuchins of Luxembourg.

Château de Pau Pau is a town of southwestern France, préfecture (capital) of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département. ... The term prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) indicates the office, seat, territorial circonscription of a Prefect; consequentally, like that word, is its applied in English in relation to actual Prefects, whose title is just that (or the forms it takes in other, especially Romance, languages), in the broadest sense in... Jorge Semprún (1923 - ) is a Spanish writer and politician. ...

External Links

• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia
• Camp de Gurs (in French)
• Photos of the site today(in Spanish)
• Berga , a US PBS documentary on the Nazi camp system mentions Gurs