![Cimetière, Le Vernet (Ariège) (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Cimeti%C3%A8re%2C_Le_Vernet_%28Ari%C3%A8ge%29_%283%29.jpg)
Le Vernet Internment Camp, or Camp Vernet, was a
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
in
Le Vernet,
Ariège, near
Pamiers
Pamiers (; oc, Pàmias ) is a commune and largest city in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the most populous commune in the Ariège department, although i ...
, in the
French Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
. Built in 1918 as a barracks but after WWI used as an internment camp for
prisoners of war. From February 1939 to June 1944, it was used as an internment camp (concentration camp), first for Republican refugees (soldiers, their families, opponents of the Franco regime) fleeing Spain after Franco's victory in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, in particular some 12,000 refugees, including soldiers of
Durruti Column
The Durruti Column (Spanish: ''Columna Durruti''), with about 6,000 people, was the largest anarchist column (or military unit) formed during the Spanish Civil War. During the first months of the war, it became the most recognized and popular mi ...
and others of the
International Brigades, under the legitimate French government and then, as of May-June 1940, under the Vichy government after German occupation during the Second World War. Starting in 1940, apart from the prisoners coming from the Spanish Civil War, the Vichy government used it to house prisoners considered suspect or dangerous to the government, including members of the resistance and opponents of the Hitler, Mussolini and Pétain regimes. From 1942 until June 1944, it was used as a holding camp for Jewish families awaiting deportation to other camps. The last transport out of the camp in June 1944 took the prisoners to
Dachau concentration camp.
History
Camp Vernet was originally built in June 1918 to house French colonial troops serving in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but when hostilities ceased it was used to hold German and Austrian prisoners of war.
[ ''Camp Vernet'' Website](_blank)
Between the wars, it served as a military depot.
Towards the end of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, in February 1939, it was put to a new use until September 1939 as a reception camp for Republicans fleeing from
Francisco Franco's armies after the collapse of the
Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...
, holding those Republicans the French authorities deemed "a danger to public safety".
At this time, it held mainly former soldiers from the Republican
Durruti Column
The Durruti Column (Spanish: ''Columna Durruti''), with about 6,000 people, was the largest anarchist column (or military unit) formed during the Spanish Civil War. During the first months of the war, it became the most recognized and popular mi ...
,
the
26th Division and 150
International Brigades members, segregated in an area named "the leper colony". The camp covered an area of about 50 hectares, divided into three sections and surrounded by barbed wire fences.
With the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, 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,
particularly the more troublesome or senior veterans.
There is now a small museum at Le Vernet
and Le Vernet features in
Philip Kerr
Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers.
Early life
Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...
's 2010 novel ''Field Grey'' and in the 2012 novel ''Citadel'' by Kate Mosse, which follows the lives of a group of local people and resistance fighters.
Operations under Vichy government
After the
Fall of France on 25 June 1940, it was taken over by the pro-Nazi
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
authorities, to house "all foreigners considered suspect or dangerous to the public order".
It then passed to the Germans who rebuilt it according to their own concentration camp guidelines. Arthur Koestler was a prisoner there and declared that "from the point of view of food, installations and hygiene, Vernet was worse than a Nazi concentration camp".
From 1942, Le Vernet was used as a holding centre for Jewish families awaiting deportation to Nazi labour and extermination camps.
The final transport took place in June 1944 and took the remaining prisoners to
Dachau concentration camp.
One source says that "about 40,000 persons of 58 nationalities were interned in the camp".
Notable prisoners
References
Sources
Ariège history Ariège history Chemins de Memoire
See also
*
List of Nazi-German concentration camps
According to the ''Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos'', there were 23 main concentration camps (german: Stammlager), of which most had a system of satellite camps. Including the satellite camps, the total number of Nazi concentration camps that ...
*
List of books about Nazi Germany
This is a list of books about Nazi Germany, the state that existed in Germany during the period from 1933 to 1945, when its government was controlled by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP; Nazi Party). ...
*
List of concentration and internment camps
This is a list of internment and concentration camps, organized by country. In general, a camp or group of camps is designated to the country whose government was responsible for the establishment and/or operation of the camp regardless of the c ...
*
List of Nazi-German concentration camps
According to the ''Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos'', there were 23 main concentration camps (german: Stammlager), of which most had a system of satellite camps. Including the satellite camps, the total number of Nazi concentration camps that ...
*
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...
*
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
External links
Camp du Vernet
Ariège history Chemins de Memoire.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernet, Camp
Military installations of France
World War I prisoner-of-war camps
World War I sites in France
Internment camps of the Spanish Civil War
World War II internment camps in France
Nazi concentration camps in France
Buildings and structures in Ariège (department)
History of Occitania (administrative region)