The Camp de concentration d'Argelès-sur-Mer was an internment camp established in early February 1939 on the territory of the French commune of Argelès-sur-Mer for Spanish Republican refugees. Some of the refugees were retreating members of the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army ( es, Ejército de la República Española) was the main branch of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la Rep� ...

''(Ejército Popular Republicano)'' in the Northeast of Spain in the last months 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 Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

Description

The camp was located near the Mediterranean coast at the foot of the northern side of the

Albera Massif The Albera Massif ( ca, Serra de l'Albera) (french: Massif des Albères) is a mountain range located in the south of Pyrénées-Orientales and the north of Catalonia, between France and Spain. It is the main easternmost prolongation of the Pyrene ...

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; ca, Rosselló ; oc, Rosselhon ) is a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the ...

, 8 km north of the French-Spanish border. The camp at Argelès received more than 100,000 Spanish men and women, of both civilian and military backgrounds. The latter were the remainder of the Eastern Region Army Group ''(GERO)'' that crossed the border following the Fall of Barcelona and the ''Retirada'' – the desperate withdrawal of long civilian and military columns towards the French border at the end of the

Francoist Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

Catalonia Offensive. All refugees were disarmed and arrested upon entering France. Republican military leaders such as

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

, commander of the 4th Division and Líster, commander of the 11th Division of the elite V Army Corps, had first seen the retreat to France of the remainder of the Ebro Army as part of a tactical evacuation, with the aim of regrouping these units with the remaining units of the last area under Republican control in order to continue the resistance. The French government, however, would not allow the Republican units that crossed the border to be transferred to the remaining Spanish Republican territory. All the veteran survivors of the 11th Division, together with all Republican military, were disarmed and swiftly interned in French concentration camps immediately after crossing its border.Hugh Thomas (1976); p. 943 The conditions were very poor in this concentration camp, there were no latrines, running water, huts or any kind of shelter, apart from holes in the ground dug by inmates. Food was thrown over the wire into the compound by French officials and Republican doctors were not allowed supplies or equipment. Diseases were prevalent. The guards would bring around petroleum baths to combat the infestations of fleas and lice. Efforts to encourage the refugees to return to Spain were common. The concentration camps were very large and poorly run. People died of hypothermia, disease, or despair. It was common to see dead bodies piled up and left in the open in areas throughout the camp. The French government went on to found internment camps all along the northern foot of the Pyrenees to relieve the grim conditions at Argelès. Many refugees ended up confined in those camps, e.g.

Gurs internment camp Gurs internment camp was an internment camp and prisoner of war camp constructed in 1939 in Gurs, a site in southwestern France, not far from Pau. The camp was originally set up by the French government after the fall of Catalonia at the ...

Notable prisoners

*Marcel Langer, member of the

international brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed ...

, later in

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

a hero of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

, where he was guillotined on 23 July 1943 * Diego Camacho (pen name Abel Paz), Spanish writer and novelist *

Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri ( rus, Рубе́н Руи́с Иба́ррури; January 9, 1920 – September 3, 1942) was a Spanish military officer and Soviet commander of the 100th Machine Gun Company of an independent training battalion of the 35th ...

, son of Spanish Communist leader Dolores Ibárruri, ''La Pasionaria''. * Vicente Ferrer Moncho. * Joaquim Amat-Piniella, Catalan writer. * Peko Dapčević, Yugoslav partisan. *

Arthur Adamov Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. Early life Adamov (originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the Russian Empire to a wealthy A ...

(23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970), playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the

Theatre of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post– World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...

. * Andrés García La Calle, Commander of the fighter units of the

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica ...

* Josep Bartolí, Catalan artist

Commemoration

Inscription on the commemorative monument on the northern beach of Argelès-sur-Mer:

References

External links

Argelès-sur-Mer Internment Camp Photographs
Robert Capa, Capa, Robert (1939) International Center of Photography. Retrieved 2010-09-23. {{DEFAULTSORT:Camp De Concentration D'argeles-Sur-Mer Concentration camps in France Internment camps of the Spanish Civil War World War II sites in France

Description

Notable prisoners

Commemoration

References

Further reading

External links