Pithiviers

Pithiviers is located about sixty kilometres south of Paris, and there the French military established a prisoner-of-war camp in 1939. A war against Germany was considered a reality and for this, prisoner-of-war camps were needed for the German prisoners of war that were expected. But the rapid German conquest of France in the spring/summer of 1940 meant that the camp became a camp for French prisoners of war instead. These prisoners were then sent to Germany. The camp was located in what became Vichy France and was under both French and German control. In addition to Pithiviers, there were also Beaune-la-Rolande and Jargeu camps in the Loiret district, where mainly Beaune-la-Rolande had the same function as Pithiviers. In May 1941, the camp became a collection and transit camp for Polish jews who fled to France. French (and other) Jews arrested during round-ups in France were also imprisoned. In July 1942 about 7,000 Jews were deported to Pithiviers and Beaune-la-Rolande from Velodrome d`iver, Paris. These Jews had been imprisoned during a widespread round-up and were so ill-treated that a diphtheria epidemic erupted in the camp. In 1942, six convoys of approximately 6,000 Jews departed from Pithiviers to Auschwitz. Between October 1943 and the liberation of August 1944, the camp functioned as a camp for political prisoners.