Camp du Récébédou was an internment camp for

Spanish Republican The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissolv ...

s and Jews, in existence from February 1941 until September 1942, located in the municipality of

Portet-sur-Garonne Portet-sur-Garonne (, literally ''Portet on Garonne''; Languedocien dialect, Languedocien: ''Portèth de Garona'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in southwestern France. Portet-Saint-Simon ...

, south of

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. Internees were transported by train via

Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

, and other extermination camps.

History

Récébédou area

Around 1560, the land of Jehan de Gilbert, who was the receiver of judgments in Rivière Verdun, that was known locally as "farm of the receiver" (in Occitan ː borda del recevedor or "bordo del rebéédou"). The land, situated on the banks of the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

consisted mainly of farmland and forest, has retained the name. During the French Revolution, the land was confiscated as

Biens nationaux The were Real property, properties confiscated during the French Revolution from the Catholic Church in France, Catholic Church, the list of French monarchs, monarchy, French emigration (1789–1815), émigrés, and suspected counter-revolutiona ...

("for the good of the nation") and in 1791 acquired by a Toulouse innkeeper Daumont, who renovated the buildings of the farm, which became the castle of Clairfont. In 1939, the land was acquired to build a city for the workers of the national explosives factory of Toulouse. It was made up of 87 small single-storey brick buildings offering reasonable comfort.

Internment camp

Refugee centre

The

second world war World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

brought about a change in the use of the city of Récébédou under the management by the municipality of Toulouse. In June 1940 it was used to house refugees, Jews expelled from Germany who were in Belgium and northern France. That July, faced with the influx of Spanish republican refugees and Jews fleeing the occupied zone of France, the city became a reception center for

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s and escapees.

Hospital camp

In February 1941, it was taken over by the prefecture of

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

and becomes an official hospital camp for old and sick internees, with a planned workforce of 1,400. Vichy's policy made it a semi-open institution, allowing journalists and charities to inspect it. The Vichy regime considered using it for

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

purposes. In the beginning, the conditions were reasonable, but deteriorated quickly due to lack of medical equipment, medicines, and the lack of food. In 1941 there were 739 internees, half were over 60 years of age and suffered from serious illnesses. During the winter of 1941–1942, hunger, cold and sickness, left 118 dead, and a total of 314 people, including 254 Jews, died. Several convoys of deportees left Récébédou during August 1942. Some left as early as August 11 but most on the nights of 26–28 August from Portet-sur-Garonne in freight cars, taking the internees to the camp of Drancy whose records mention three convoys departing for Auschwitz with 349 Jews from Récébédou.

Archbishop's indignation

Monsignor Jules-Géraud Saliège,

archbishop of Toulouse The Archdiocese of Toulouse (–Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the Department of Haute-Garonne and its seat is Toulouse Cathedral. Archb ...

actively protested the policy against the Jews and insisted on the closure of camps at Noé and Récébédou in a pastoral letter read out in all the parishes of his dioceses on 23 August. His actions, with that of humanitarian organizations like the

Cimade The Cimade is a French NGO founded at the beginning of the World War II by French Protestant student groups, in particular the Christian activist and member of the French Resistance Madeleine Barot, to give assistance and support to people uproot ...

and the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, provided some support to the internees. From September 1942, the internees were progressively directed to other hospitals of the region, and the camp ended its activity. The camp was officially closed in October 1942 on the pretext of being too close to Toulouse. When the German troops entered Toulouse in late 1942, for a short time the camp served to house some

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

personnel.

''Don Quixote's villa''

At the

liberation of France The liberation of France () in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany in ...

, Spanish Republicans who had escaped from Mauthausen concentration camp, but were unable to return to their country, stayed in a dozen buildings in the camp. This colony was known as the "Villa Don Quixote".

Musée de la Mémoire

In one preserved building, the Musée de la Mémoire was established as a memorial museum dedicated to the history of the camp where visitors can view documents, models and reconstructions. The museum was inaugurated on 6 February 2003 by

Elie Wiesel Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates#1980, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel bibliogra ...

. A French documentary film about Laurette Alexis-Monet volunteering at the camp and directed by Francis Fourcou was released in 2016. ''Laurette 1942, une volontaire au camp du Récébédou,'' was based on the book ''Les Miradors de Vichy'' by Alexis-Monet, a

member. The historian

Pierre Vidal-Naquet Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet (; 23 July 193029 July 2006) was a French historian who began teaching at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in 1969. Vidal-Naquet was a specialist in the study of Ancient Greece, but was als ...

has criticised the book as being a scam and a fictitious story.

References

{{Authority control World War II concentration camps History of Haute-Garonne Concentration camps in France