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N.B. There is a variation in the dates cited in the various documents below. As it was impossible to verify them precisely, the dates given are from the linked article.
The camp at Villemalard appears to have been of the nature of a
centre de rassemblement where a preliminary verification was performed.
There were
other such camps
in the region.
The information added to a November 1939
postcard addressed to Villemalard indicates that this camp only existed from November
1939
to January 1940.
We learn about life in Villemalard from the correspondence of Heinrich Blücher and it is apparent that there was a certain amount of liberty. Before being transferred to Villemalard the German refugees were convoked to the olympic stadium at Colombes. The first letter of Blücher that appears in the collected correspondence and that was sent from Villemalard is dated September 18.
According to one source 1940.01.13 was the date of the decree allowing certain foreigners to work for the army. This date is after the 1939.12.07 date for the enrollment of Albert Herz, but, as stated above, he may have come under a different category because of his marriage. According to another source there were 75,600 candidates for entry in the Legion between September, 1939 and March, 1940.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] A short chronology of the start of the camps
[an error occurred while processing this directive] A chapter on the camps from the book Les Barbelés de l'exil.
A six page history of the camps.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] There were several camps in North Africa, but Albert Herz, being in the army, was not assigned to one of these.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] A map showing all the camps.
Two short articles which discuss:
Compagnies de Travailleurs Étrangers and
Groupements de Travailleurs Étrangers
A 127 page document which discusses the camps and especially those in the Limousin.
A map showing the multitude of camps in the R5 region (Limousin, Corrèze, Dordogne).
