Riversaltes memorial camp.

Visited the memorial museum and camp at what was once 'Camp Joffre' near us at Riversaltes. It was built originally as a camp for visiting troops but soon after used to house Spanish refugees fleeing from the war there.
It continued to be used for 'undesirables' , jews, gypsies, communists, in the 2nd world war then later in the 60's until it finally closed in the 70's for Algerians fleeing the war there.  Theres an extremely well designed underground museum (see extra) surrounded by the remains of the camp buildings. We visited on an extremely hot day and could see why the area was nicknamed the 'sahara' as its on an arid almost desert-like plain that gets severe winds at times. Although it was never intended to be a 'concentration or extermination' camp the conditions would have been appalling . The place now is covered with crickets (see extra) but I'm sure at that time they would have been scarce sources of protein for the inmates.
Our little town has a statue to commemorate a specific date when the towns 'undesirables' were rounded up and I think they were brought to this camp prior to a number of them being transferred on to extermination camps outside France. It was good to see that some were saved though, including a number of infants who were delivered at a local maternity hospital then disappeared to local families or smuggled across the nearby Spanish border. 
A very moving experience and well recommended to visit.