An internment camp, it’s ... "[of] places where anyone is confined by administrative measure (generally by a prefect) and not in the context of legal proceedings." (Denis Peschanski) Created in France for so-called "undesirable" foreigners, there were more than 200 between 1938 and 1946 for about 600,000 internees.
When did the internment camps appear in France?
Under the Third Republic, in a context of increasing xenophobia, internment camps were part of an exceptional logic: the law of 12 November 1938 authorized the internment of "foreign undesirables" in specialized centres. The first camp opened at Rieucros (Lozère) in February 1939 while nearly 465,000 Spaniards were fleeing Francoism.
World War II and the internment camps in France
Between 1940 and 1942, the camps are part of a logic of control and exclusion. The Vichy regime accuses the 'anti-France forces', that is to say the Jews, foreigners, communists and Freemasons, of being responsible for the defeat and of representing dangers for society. Internment camps will become a means of exclusion and repression towards the targeted populations.
In the free zone, at the end of 1940, 30,000 foreign Jews were already interned, under the law of October 4, 1940 promulgated by the Vichy regime.
At the request of the Nazi occupier, nomads are also interned in camps.
In the occupied zone, two camps reserved for Jews were created by German order in May 1941: Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande (Loiret). The authorities distribute there from 14 May the 3,700 Jews arrested during the 'round' of the so-called greenback.
In August 1941, the camp of Drancy is opened: it is intended for the internment of the Jews of France. In these camps, the living conditions are particularly difficult: hunger, lack of hygiene and disease constitute the daily life of many individuals.
From the spring of 1942, internment camps were used as an antechamber for the deportation of Jews to killing places.
And at the Liberation?
Suspects of collaboration are detained, often in places used for internment under the Vichy regime.
With regard to the nomads, the last internee was released from the Alliers camp (Charente) on 1 June 1946.
