The Moldovan-French photojournalistIsaac Kitrosser managed to continue as a photographer while interned at Septfonds. His photographs, including "Cérémonie juive dans le camp de Septfonds," were among the first published concentration camp photos after liberation in 1944.[4][5]
Location of the internment camps in France after the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The map is showing the Camp of Argelès-sur-Mer, Barcarès, Bram, Gurs, Camp d’Agde, Rivesaltes, Vernet, Saint-Cyprien and Septfonds.
After thefall of Barcelona to theNationalist forces on 26 January 1939, at the end of theSpanish Civil War, a large number ofSpanish Republicans, persecuted for political reasons, left Catalonia, crossed the Pyrenees and sought shelter in France. The refugees were treated with hostility by the French government due to theirsocialist andanarchist political leanings. The decision to open the Septfonds camp was taken by General Ménard on 26 February 1939, and on 5 March the first prisoners of the labor camp arrived.[1][6] The camp at Septfonds completed the internment system set up by the French authorities for Spanish refugees, consisting mainly of the camps atArgelès-sur-mer,Barcarès and Saint-Cyprien, and the camps atRieucros,Gurs,Bram andAgde.[7][8]
Spanish cemetery at Septfonds
The living conditions were very harsh due to shortage of food supplies and lack of sanitation, hygiene, running water, heating and electricity, resulting in several deaths. However, the interns of the camp organized social, cultural and political activities.[1] A total of 81 Spanish prisoners were buried in the outskirts of the village of Septfonds (44°9′31.37″N1°37′6.34″E / 44.1587139°N 1.6184278°E /44.1587139; 1.6184278).[9]
On 1 March 1940, the camp started being used for defense purposes, specifically for the training of foreigners who joined the French army.[1]
From autumn of 1940, the Vichy government started using the camp as a prison for undesirables including republican Spaniards, Jews, communists, officers of the Allied army, Poles and people lacking official documentation. The living conditions remained harsh and many people were deported toAuschwitz. The camp's prisoners were liberated in August 1944 by theFrench Resistance. Until May 1945 the camp was used as a detention center for suspectedNazi collaborators.[1]
^Fau, J.-Cl. (1994). "Le camp des réfugiés espagnols de Septfonds (1939–1940)". In Cohen, Monique-Lise; Malo, Eric; Arnoldsen, Gret (eds.).Les camps du sud-ouest de la France (1939–1944) (in French). Toulouse: Editions Privat. pp. 37–38.ISBN978-2-7089-5375-8.
