Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp
The Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp was a transit and detention facility operated by French and German authorities in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Built in 1939 in the Beaune-la-Rolande commune, Loiret, to house German prisoners of war, it was repurposed after France's defeat in 1940 to detain French POWs. From 1941, it was used to intern foreign-born Jews living in the Paris region. In May 1942, following the establishment of direct German control, mass deportations to extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz, began. Among the victims were more than 1,500 children arrested during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup and deported via Beaune-la-Rolande to Auschwitz, where most were murdered.
After returning to French control in September 1942, the camp was used to hold political prisoners and individuals considered "non-deportable" before its closure in August 1943. Alongside Drancy and Pithiviers, Beaune-la-Rolande formed part of the core internment and deportation infrastructure in the northern zone. An estimated 6,800 Jews passed through the camp; most were deported to Auschwitz and killed. Notable detainees included the impresario René Blum and physician Adélaïde Hautval. The camp remains a focus of Holocaust memory, education and historical research in France.
Background
Following the defeat of France in June 1940 and the signing of the Armistice, Marshal Philippe Pétain was granted full powers by the French Parliament on 10 July 1940, marking the end of the Third Republic and inaugurating an authoritarian collaborationist government. The country was divided into two zones: the Occupied Zone under direct German military control, and the so-called Free Zone administered by the Vichy regime. The Vichy regime rapidly enacted antisemitic laws and cooperated with German authorities in identifying, arresting, and interning Jews, Roma, political opponents, and other targeted groups.In the Occupied Zone, the Germans operated their own facilities, including Frontstalag and labour camps under the Organisation Todt. They also exercised control over internment camps formally administered by French prefectures. From 1941, foreign-born Jews were interned in a network of these camps, which, although nominally under French jurisdiction, functioned under close German supervision.
Beaune-la-Rolande, together with Pithiviers, Drancy and Compiègne, was among the most important internment camps in the occupied northern zone of France. Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers were the first camps in the occupied zone to be opened specifically to Jewish detainees. Transfers between these camps were frequent and dictated by German authorities; detainees were deported in successive convoys to Auschwitz.
History
Establishment as a prisoner-of-war camp (1939–1941)
Situated in the Loiret Département, approximately 90 kilometres south of Paris, Beaune-la-Rolande was originally built in 1939 to detain German prisoners of war. Following the Fall of France in June 1940, it was repurposed to hold French prisoners of war awaiting transfer to camps in Germany. The facility, spanning around three hectares, was secured by 14 barbed wire fences Beaune-la-Rolande was grouped administratively with the nearby Pithiviers camp under the designation Frontstalag 152, established by the Wehrmacht on 20 July 1940.By mid-1940, conditions at Beaune-la-Rolande had deteriorated severely. Overcrowding became acute, with up to 14,000 prisoners confined at one point. French Red Cross reports documented widespread malnutrition, poor sanitation, and frequent disease outbreaks, particularly dysentery. Mortality rates were especially high among North African colonial troops. The Frontstalag 152 complex was ultimately dissolved on 21 March 1941.
Internment of foreign-born Jews (1941–1942)
Beaune-la-Rolande was repurposed as an internment and deportation centre for foreign-born Jews. The camp commandant was de Taddey, a French officer acting under German supervision. It was designated as a "1st category" internment facility, used primarily for detainees arrested at the demand of the German occupation authorities rather than through independent French police action. Beaune-la-Rolande and its twin site at Pithiviers were the first internment camps for Jews in the occupied zone. Both began receiving Jewish detainees on 14 May 1941, following a Vichy law issued on 4 October 1940, which authorised prefects to intern foreign Jews or assign them to forced residence without judicial oversight.The first group of internees, primarily Polish Jews, arrived in May 1941 following the Green ticket roundup. French police had issued 6,500 summonses to Jewish men aged 18 to 60 without French citizenship. Around 3,700 responded and were immediately taken to the camps at Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande. By October 1941, the camp held over 1,500 individuals of various nationalities, including Poles, Czechs, Austrians, Lithuanians and a small number of French. Prisoners were housed in 19 wooden barracks, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by French gendarmes and auxiliary personnel. Initially, limited contact with the outside world was permitted, including visits and parcels. The barracks were unfurnished except for straw bedding, and living conditions were poor.
In the weeks following the Green Ticket roundup, families appealed to French authorities for the release of detained relatives. Between mid-May and late June 1941, around 200 men were freed from Beaune-la-Rolande, primarily those who were seriously ill, under 18, over 55, or recognised war veterans. After 27 June, releases were suspended on German orders pending a review of medical procedures. After that, only 23 further releases were authorised, despite a camp population of nearly 2,000.
Over the summer, daily life settled into a regimented routine. Some internees worked as cooks, barbers, gardeners, or tailors; others laboured on nearby farms, drained swampland or took jobs in sugar and molasses factories. Proximity to the Pithiviers camp, located 18 kilometres away, reinforced their joint function as primary detention sites for Jews in the northern zone.
Escape attempts were frequent, especially during work assignments outside the camp. Between July and August 1941, an estimated 313 prisoners escaped, out of a total camp population of approximately 2,000. Some gendarmes covertly aided internees, facilitated by the fact that many worked outside the camp. From autumn 1941, surveillance at the camp was tightened under German pressure. According to a 1942 camp report, the camp's security force comprised over 170 personnel, armed with rifles and pistols.
German takeover and deportations (1942)
German takeover and first deportations
In May 1942, German authorities assumed direct control of Beaune-la-Rolande, acting on orders from SS officer Theodor Dannecker. External work assignments were suspended and prisoners were confined within the camp perimeter.Systematic deportations from Beaune-la-Rolande began in June 1942, with successive convoys sent to Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland. Some deportees were transferred to Drancy internment camp before further deportation. Situated on the northeastern edge of Beaune-la-Rolande, the camp was at the opposite end of town from the railway station. As a result, each convoy's arrival or departure required internees to march through the town centre.
Convoy 5 departed on 28 June 1942 with 1,038 deportees: 1,004 men and 34 women. Most were foreign-born Jews arrested in previous roundups; an additional 108 were added from the Orléans region. Of the 965 individuals whose nationality was recorded, the majority were Polish, with others listed as Czech, Russian, Austrian, Romanian, and stateless. Convoy 5 departed Beaune-la-Rolande at 5:20 am on 28 June 1942 and continued to Auschwitz, where most deportees were murdered shortly after arrival. Only 55 survivors were recorded. On 17 July 55 more detainees were transferred from Beaune-la-Rolande to Pithiviers to complete a transport of 928 individuals, which departed two days later.
Vel' d'Hiv Roundup and families
These early deportations were followed by the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, one of the most extensive mass arrests of Jews in France. According to Michael Dickerman and Paul Bartrop, between 16 and 17 July 1942, French police arrested 13,152 Jews, men, women and children, confining them in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, a cycling stadium in Paris. From 19 to 22 July, families with children were transferred to the internment camps at Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande, to await deportation. All the other adults with no children were transferred to Drancy and from there deported to Auschwitz. Beaune-la-Rolande was unprepared for the arrival. On 19 July, the police intendant reported multiple problems to the regional prefect, including inadequate food supplies and a lack of plates and cups. Medical staff were also lacking and the few Red Cross nurses were unable to provide adequate care. All contact with the outside world was cut off. Children aged two to thirteen were separated from their mothers. Overcrowding, food shortages, and outbreaks of measles and diphtheria led to several child deaths.Convoy 15 and separation of children
Convoy 15 departed on 5 August 1942, carrying about 1,000 deportees. A large proportion of the women were aged between 34 and 50, and many of the men were between 39 and 49. The group included 176 girls aged 13 to 21 and 93 boys aged 13 to 19, some of whom were deported alongside their mothers. Although German authorities had stated that children under 16 were not to be deported at that stage, approximately 160 children aged 12 to 15 had been included in the transport list. On the orders of the German authorities, the children were forcibly separated from their mothers and removed from the convoy to comply with the restriction. The train departed Beaune-la-Rolande under escort by French gendarmes. Of the recorded nationalities, 672 were Polish, 86 Russian, 16 German, five French, two Czech, two Turkish, two Romanian, one Austrian, and 108 were undetermined. On arrival at Auschwitz on 7 August 214 men and 96 women were selected for forced labour; the remaining deportees were killed. Only six survivors were known by 1945. On the same day, another 423 internees were transferred from Beaune to Pithiviers to fill transport quotas.By 8 August 1942, approximately 1,500 children remained at Beaune-la-Rolande, overseen by a small number of interned social workers and doctors. Their deportation, proposed by Vichy prime minister Pierre Laval, was awaiting a final decision from Berlin. Many of the children were under twelve and held in increasingly overcrowded and precarious conditions. In early August, permission for the deportation of children came from Berlin.