Despite harsh conditions, prisoners maintained aspects of Jewish life, holding services, celebrating holidays, and supporting cultural activities.

The camp, with 19 barracks, workshops, a canteen, and an infirmary, was fenced, close to town, and supervised by French gendarmes during its first year of operation.

Joseph Darnand, future collaborator and leader of the Milice, was interned at the Pithiviers camp as a prisoner of war before he escaped in August 1940.

In 2018, France's national rail company, SNCF, announced the allocation of $2.3 million toward construction of a new museum expected to open in 2020 at the one-time camp site.

SNCF made plans to work in conjunction with CRIF,[4] an umbrella group representing French Jewish communities, to restore the dilapidated Pithiviers rail station to its wartime appearance.

Educational materials, including an exhibition center detailing the internment of Europe's Jews and study rooms for visitors and school children, will be housed within the station-turned-museum.

The internment camp reached from the guard post to the current athletics stadium, which is set back from 14 rue Gabriel-Lelong.

Theodor Dannecker, representative of Adolf Eichmann in Paris from September 1940 to August 1942, and Carltheo Zeitschel worked together to accelerate the exclusion of Jews from society.