The Mérignac internment camp, also known as the Beau-Désert internment camp, was a French internment and transit camp for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, Jews, French members of the

Resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

, and political prisoners; it was located in the district of Beau-Désert in the commune of Mérignac, near Bordeaux, in German occupied France during World War II.

History

After the

Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

, the German authorities converted a confinement center (), built at the site of a former WW1 laundry, in the district of Beau-Désert, near Merignac, into a prison. The Mérignac camp comprised one barrack and a barbed-wire fence, it was managed by director René Rousseau and guarded by the French gendarmerie. In December 1940, the regional prefect François Pierre-Alype, acting in accordance with orders from the Bordeaux (German Command), organised the internment of around 300

(Gypsies, Tziganes or nomads in reports) including children. By the end of December 1940, the internees had built a total of 20 barracks, a few weeks later, the Roma were transferred to another camp, the in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

. On 21 March 1941, the Roma were replaced in Merignac by political detainees from the Bordeaux region when a new group of 148 communists arrived. In April 1941 came the first Jews, victims of roundups, followed by prostitutes and in June French members of the

. The jewish internees were temporarily held in Mérignac before getting transferred to the

Drancy camp Drancy internment camp was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German occupation of France during World War II. Originally conceived and built as a modernist urban com ...

via the Bordeaux train station, while in Mérignac the Jews were segregated from the other prisoners. In October 1941, 35 of the Merignac political prisoners, arrested in 1939 because of communist activities, were transferred to the Souge military camp to be executed. Fifty hostages were shot in retaliation for the killing of German military adviser () Hans Gottfried Reimers, by the French Resistance, in Bordeaux three days earlier. German SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Hagenn was directly responsible for the execution of the hostages. In September 1942, an additional 70 Mérignac internees were executed in Souge. The internment camp of Merignac held 560 detainees in November 1943 then 224 by April 1944; In November 1943, only 70 to 85 Jews were left in the camp, In December there were none. The deportations continued in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

until June 1944, as facilitated by Maurice Papon the prefect of

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

appointed in June 1942. On 26 August 1944, the French Forces of the Interior () liberated the remaining detainees of the Mérignac camp and replaced them with collaborators.

Transfers and deportations

Convoys taking Jewish internees to Drancy for transport to the German death camps: * Convoy of 18 July 1942, (171 deportees) * Convoy of 26 August 1942, (444 deportees including 57 children) * Convoy of 19 October 1942, (173 deportees). Between February and June 1943, an additional 107 Jews held in Mérignac were deported

Notable Mérignac incarcerees

* Louis de La Bardonnie, member of the French Resistance *

Robert Aron Robert Aron (1898–1975) was a French historian and writer who wrote a number of books on politics and European history. Early life and career Robert Aron was born in Le Vésinet on 25 May 1898 to an upper-class Jewish family from eastern France ...

, French historian and writer

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Le camp de Mérignac-Beaudésert (in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merignac Internment camp World War II internment camps in France Nazi concentration camps in France Deportation Vichy France