Camp of Septfonds

[4][5] After the fall of Barcelona to the Nationalist forces on 26 January 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, a large number of Spanish 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 their socialist and anarchist political leanings.

[7][8] 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.

[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.