Memorial Trail of the Argelès-sur-Mer Camp

3 points of interest

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  History

  The Camp Monolith

  The monolith at the camp marks the southern entrance to the Argelès-sur-Mer camp, which was opened in early February 1939 to intern some of the refugees who had fled Spain during "La Retirada." Over 100,000 refugees, including women and children, passed through the camp until summer 1939, all sleeping directly on the sand in makeshift shelters. The camp was reorganized and reopened following the declaration of war in September 1939. After France's defeat in June 1940, the camp became more international, with refugees from Northern and Eastern Europe, including foreign Jews, and the return of Spanish workers. The Vichy government used it as one of the main camps in southern France, interning French nomads there in the autumn of 1940.
  
  People from over fifty nationalities lived together behind the barbed wire at Argelès. These "undesirables" were confined on a beach where living conditions were extremely harsh, with high mortality rates, particularly among infants. In 1941, the Ministry of the Interior transferred most of the internees to the Rivesaltes camp and deported some Spaniards and international brigadiers to camps in Algeria. By June 1942, with only a hospital remaining, the Argelès-sur-Mer camp was converted into a French Youth Work Camp before closing permanently in November. Erected in 1999, this monolith pays tribute to all the refugees who passed through the camp.
   

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  History

  North Plaque of the Argelès-sur-Mer Memorial Trail

  This plaque symbolizes the northern boundary of the Argelès-sur-Mer camp.

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  History

  Spanish Cemetery

  Nearly 400 internees died in the Argelès-sur-Mer camp or following transfers to hospitals in Perpignan between 1939 and 1942. A quarter of them were children. All were refugees, mostly Spanish, but also French Roma and refugees from nearly 50 nationalities interned on Argelès-sur-Mer beach, one of the largest camps in southern France.
  
  The camp cemetery was devastated by floods in October 1940. In 1953, after the commune acquired a part of the former cemetery grounds, a Belgian citizen donated a memorial stele engraved with the names of some of the men, women, and children who died in the camp. This site, maintained for many years by former internees, has become a place of memory and reflection, and it remains the last vestige of the camp.