Camp des Milles

Did you know that during World War II there was a significant Jewish internment camp in the south of France? I didn't! Not until I dove deep into research for my third novel did I discover this unsettling fact.

Near Aix-en-Provence, just a two-hour drive from my home, I visited Camp des Milles recently. Join me for a sobering and informative tour.

Camp des Milles, 1940s

As war broke out across Europe, French authorities converted an abandoned tile factory to a detainment center. Over 10,000 people were interned in the above building from 1939 to 1942.

At first, it was used to detain Germans and other foreigners living in France, considering them enemies of the state. The majority were Jewish, having fled repression in their own countries.

The camp entered a sad new era when the Nazis invaded France in 1940 and occupied the northern half of the country, plus the western coast. The French "Vichy" government, in collaboration with the Germans, ran the south. Camp des Milles' population of detained Jews and foreigners grew to 3500 prisoners. Most were waiting for transit out of France.

Camp des Milles, 1942

Take it from me, this place is freezing. Even on the relatively mild November day when I visited—well-clothed and well-fed—I left chilled to the bone after three hours. Apparently, in the heat of summer, temperatures (and surely temperaments) soared inside the building.

And the hygienic aspect. . . oh my goodness. The internees had very little water for cleaning or drinking, not much food, long lines for the few toilets, and rampant illness. An overall insufferable atmosphere.

Men slept on one floor, women and children on another, all on the ground. No mattresses or blankets. A bit of straw was strewn about, but otherwise the internees slept on hard, cold dirt.

Men's "dorm"

Men could use old brick ovens as rooms. The rest slept in the corridor or the above "dorm" floor.

Men's corridor

Women and children's "dorm"

The toilets - hundreds lined up at a time.

The women and children's floor, considerably cleaner now but still incredibly cold. A few graffiti survive, etched into wood or stone.

Freedom, Life, Peace

Among the detainees were many artists who managed to create art in the midst of chaos and suffering. Some unknown, some famous, such as painter Max Ernst, they resisted through artistic creation. I can imagine it brought them solace. Over 3000 paintings or drawings still exist and act as testimonies of the life and the spirit of the prisoners.

Wall murals depicting feasting with the nations and working together... messages of hope in a dark place. In the third photo, we see a white space in the middle of the mural where there was a framed picture of Marshall Petain, leader of the French Vichy government. I bet that portrait came down as soon as the Allies won the war.

Prisoner Franz Meyer drew whimsical, meaningful cartoons. The above shows the foreign, mostly Jewish, detainees waiting and hoping for transit papers. Meyer eventually received a positive response from the United States.

Meyer's depiction of the living conditions of the internee: freezing in winter, overheated in summer, crowded conditions, no decent hygiene, sickness, chores, clay dust. To these physical sufferings, add anxiety, doubt, waiting . . .

Artist Robert Liebknecht captured the boredom and despair

Hitler's "Final Solution" became fully active in 1942. Eliminating "Jewish parasites" from society began in earnest. Shockingly, the French Vichy government agreed to turn over 10,000 Jews from the southern "Free Zone" to Germany. To make matters worse, French minister Pierre Laval offered (OFFERED) to include children under the age of sixteen in the deportations.

I thought I knew a thing or two about World War II. Turns out I didn't. Especially the complicated layers of complicity. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say, but some things are just plain WRONG. French officials deporting people, including French citizens, sending them to their deaths, just because they were Jews is not right under any circumstances.

I'd thought "collaboration" meant just the few people, here and there, who tried to profit from alliances with the occupying Germans. But it was the French government and police willingly carrying out these initiatives.

I also understand that many were afraid to lose their positions, their jobs, if they defied orders. But there is a time to RESIST, whatever the cost.

Back to Camp des Milles. In early August 1942, Jewish women and children from the region were brought to Camp des Milles to join other prisoners, including family members. By the end of August, French authorities herded them into boxcars, packing them in like sardines—including one hundred children age one and over. The destination: Auschwitz. Most were "exterminated" upon arrival.

An original boxcar and place of departure

Some of the 2000+ people deported from Camp des Milles and taken to Auschwitz.

Names of the deported Jewish children from Camp des Milles. They all died in Auschwitz.

Thanks to active priests, pastors, and ordinary citizens, some detainees escaped. With the aid of refugee organizations, such as the Protestant run CIMADE, escapees were dressed as Protestant boy or girl scouts or as their leaders. The workers then brought several dozen refugees to the annual Huguenot/Protestant worship service, the Assemblée du Désert, on the first Sunday in September. At the end of the service, not a refugee was left without a home. Descendents of the Huguenots in attendance took them in for the duration of the war and beyond.

I love this so much.

My third novel in the Huguenot Resistance Series starts here—in the Camp des Milles and the Huguenot gathering. Then on to my little town, St. Hippolyte du Fort, and home, the Château de Planque, where we follow the lives of the escapees and those who risk taking them in.

I am deeply touched and inspired by those who took enormous risks to help the interned Jews.

Relief organizations, priests, and pastors were allowed in the camps to help detainees. Many used this access to provide false papers, such as baptismal certificates, identity papers, etc. as they were able. Camp authorities could then decide on "exemptions."

Despair grew as the inevitable deportation from Camp des Milles drew near at the end of August. The few that survived reported that "we didn't know exactly what awaited us, but we knew we were in the waiting room of death." Indeed, several suicides occurred before departure.

Some parents entrusted their children to aid workers in hopes of their child's survival. A document making the "abandonment of the children" official was co-signed by the director of the camp and the parents. I cannot imagine the anguish at making such a choice.

Dozens of people escaped from the camp by hiding in the relief organizations' trucks, or through tunnels leading to the river. Sometimes camp guards helped or looked the other way, which is heartening.

Here are a few of the true stories of the heroes and heroines of this chapter of history.

Pastor Charles Guillon

Pastor Henri Manen from Aix-en-Provence and his wife, Alice

Donadille family, from my region, the Cévennes

Pastor Donadille famously said to the regional Police Chief: "You are indeed obliged to order your gendarmes to seek out the Jews, however, you may, perhaps, hint at the fact that they are not obliged to find them."

A testimony of courage and wit that may have saved many lives.

Camp guard Auguste Boyer and his wife, Marie-Jeanne

I can only imagine the stories, told and untold, of those who risked everything to save the lives of innocents, people they did not know. For the sake of their God, for the sake of justice, courageous men and women used what "was in their hand"—their skills, contacts, areas of expertise and made a tremendous difference in their day and the generations to follow.

May we do the same.

La vie est belle...