Gurs

CONSTRUCTION OF GURS BEGINS March 15, 1939 Construction of the Gurs, the first French detention camp, begins in the southwest region of France. French officials ordered the establishment of internment camps to house Spanish Republican soldiers fleeing the Franco regime upon its victory in the Spanish Civil War in the spring of 1939. Close to 500,000 Spanish refugees and other foreign nationals will seek refuge in France by the end of the summer. Occupying about 80 hectares of land, Gurs is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, approximately 50 miles from the Spanish border, and 10 miles from the town of Oloron-Ste-Marie. The first group of 900 Spanish Republican refugees will arrive on April 4, 1939, to continue construction of the camp. Gurs will hold over 15,000 refugees by the time construction is completed in April 1939. REFUGEES FROM SPANISH CIVIL WAR April 20, 1939 During April and May, French authorities intern in Gurs over 6,000 members of the International Brigades from other camps in southern France. The International Brigades, composed of soldiers from around the world, fought alongside the Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Brigade members who fled from Spain to France after their defeat in the spring of 1939 are held in French-operated internment camps. Many will either be repatriated to their native countries over the next several months or deployed to work units in France. GURS CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE April 25, 1939 French authorities consider construction of the Gurs internment camp in southern France complete. The French civilian administration of the camp turns responsibility for the camp over to French military authorities. By this date, Gurs holds over 15,000 Spanish Republican refugees and other foreign nationals. Since Gurs is located in a flood plain, living and sanitation conditions within the camp are poor. Many refugees suffer from diseases and die during their internment. Over the next year, the internee population in Gurs will decrease as refugees in Gurs are sent to work in French-organized labor units throughout France. Most will remain in these units throughout the war years; others will join resistance organizations or return to their native countries. FOREIGN NATIONALS SENT TO GURS May 21, 1940 Over 500 foreign nationals, mainly women and children, arrive in Gurs. Because they are from Germany and German-occupied territory, they are now considered enemy nationals. Germany had launched its western European campaign on May 10, 1940, with the invasion of the Netherlands. In the Paris region, French authorities quickly begin rounding up enemy aliens and Jews seeking asylum in France and deporting them to internment camps in southern France. By the end of June 1940, Gurs will hold some 9,000 women and children of foreign origin. In the following months, French authorities will turn many of the German non-Jewish internees over to the Germans. SPANISH REPUBLICANS IN GURS May 22, 1940 As many work units active throughout southern France disband, Spanish Republican refugees from these units are again interned in camps. Over 3,500 are housed in Gurs. Within months, many of them will be assigned to new work units, will be returned to Spain, or will find refuge in South America. FRENCH POLITICAL PRISONERS INTERNED June 21, 1940 900 French political prisoners arrive in Gurs. French police arrested most of them after the German invasion in May. Eventually, more than 1,000 political prisoners considered dangerous to French national security will be interned in Gurs. The majority, however, will be transferred to other camps by the end of 1940. GERMAN INSPECTION OF GURS August 21, 1940 A German inspection commission visits camps in southern France, including Gurs. As a result of the Franco-German armistice signed in June 1940, France agreed to turn over to Germany any German and Austrian nationals the Nazi government designated. The inspection commission searches the camps in France's unoccupied southern zone for German and Austrian nationals. Ultimately, 700 Gurs internees will be turned over to the commission and returned to Germany. GERMAN JEWS EXPELLED TO GURS October 25, 1940 Over 6,500 Jews deported from the Baden, Palatinate, and Saar regions of Germany arrive in Gurs. This is the first major expulsion of German Jews in "Operation Buerckel." Local Nazi officials in southwest Germany expel these Jews in anticipation of the Madagascar Plan, the plan to relocate all Jews of Europe to the French island off the coast of Africa. Because of the objections of Vichy officials, the Nazi government will halt further expulsions of Jews into France. Due to harsh conditions in the camp and poor nutrition, many of the deportees will die within weeks. RELIEF AGENCIES ARRIVE IN CAMP December 20, 1940 For humanitarian purposes, Vichy authorities permit the Swiss Aid Organization (Secours Suisse) to operate within Gurs. The organization provides medical personnel and food supplies for inmates of the camp. Other organizations, such as the Protestant Relief Agency (Secours Protestant), the American Friends Service Committee, and the Refugee Assistance Committee (Comite d'Assistance aux Refugies), also provide relief in Gurs in the following months. The relief will include medical assistance and food supplies for the inmates. OSE BEGINS WORK IN GURS February 15, 1941 Vichy officials allow the Children's Aid Organization (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE) to place a medical team and other staff in Gurs. OSE works closely with the Swiss Aid Organization (Secours Suisse) to aid children under the age of 18. OSE staff will successfully remove thousands of children from Gurs and other camps and place them in safe houses throughout France. GERMANS ORDER DEPORTATIONS FROM GURS July 18, 1942 SS Captain Theodor Dannecker, the Nazi official in charge of deportations in France, inspects the Gurs camp. Dannecker informs French officials that in accordance with German policy, camp inmates face deportation to camps in eastern Europe. Transports of Jews from Gurs will begin the following month. JEWS DEPORTED TO DRANCY August 6, 1942 The first transport of Jews from Gurs departs for the Drancy transit camp in the northern (occupied) zone of France. Two additional transports leave in August; by March 1943 a total of six transports will have left with close to 4,000 Jews. These deportations follow German policy to begin deporting Jews from France to German camps in eastern Europe. The Jews from Gurs are deported primarily to the Auschwitz camp, where most will perish. GURS TEMPORARILY CLOSED November 1, 1943 The Gurs internment camp is closed. A small staff remains to maintain the facilities for possible future use. German forces occupy the southern zone of France. In the following months, Vichy officials will complete the deportation of Jews to the northern zone and will close internment camps in the south. Over 20,000 Jewish internees passed through the Gurs camp from October 1940 to November 1943. Some 4,000 Jews were deported in six deportations to Drancy. Thousands of others were transferred to other camps or emigrated abroad. Approximately 1,100 internees died in Gurs. RESISTANCE FIGHTERS INTERNED IN GURS April 9, 1944 New internees arrive in Gurs after the camp has been inactive for seven months. The new arrivals are mainly political prisoners and resistance fighters, targeted by Vichy police forces for imprisonment. They number only a few hundred and many will be released during the summer of 1944. FREE FRENCH FORCES CLOSE CAMP August 25, 1944 Upon the liberation of France by Allied forces, Free French forces close the Gurs camp and release the remaining prisoners. Since it opened in April 1939, over 60,000 inmates, including some 20,000 Jews, have passed through the camp. GERMAN POWS HELD IN GURS August 30, 1944 French resistance forces (Forces Francaises de l'Interieur; FFI) reopen the Gurs camp to hold German prisoners of war caught in the region after the liberation of southern France in mid-August. Over 300 German POWs will be interned in the camp by September 22. They will remain there until January 1945. FRENCH COLLABORATORS INTERNED IN CAMP October 26, 1944 In the wake of the liberation of France, the new French government accused thousands of Frenchmen of collaborating with the Germans. Those accused face arrest, internment, and trial before a French tribunal. On this date, the first of some 1,500 accused collaborators to be interned in Gurs arrive there. Most of the accused will remain in the camp throughout 1945. French authorities will again close Gurs in December 1945. GURS CLOSED AND SITE ABANDONED December 31, 1945 French authorities close Gurs for the last time and abandon the site. From September 1944, over 3,000 inmates (German prisoners of war, Spanish partisans, and French collaborators) have been housed in the camp.