[4] At this time, it held mainly former soldiers from the Republican Durruti Column,[1][5] the 26th Division and 150 International Brigades members, segregated in an area named "the leper colony".

The camp covered an area of about 50 hectares, divided into three sections and surrounded by barbed wire fences.

It was used to house "undesirable" foreigners, in particular, anti-fascist intellectuals and former members of the International Brigades,[1] particularly the more troublesome or senior veterans.

Arthur Koestler was a prisoner there and declared that "from the point of view of food, installations and hygiene, Vernet was worse than a Nazi concentration camp".

[6] From 1942, Le Vernet was used as a holding centre for Jewish families awaiting deportation to Nazi labour and extermination camps.