• The Internment and Deportation Memorial at Royallieu
The »Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu« is located in the city of Compiègne near Paris. Following the occupation by the German Wehrmacht in June 1940, the Security Service of the SS (SD) set up an internment and deportation camp in Compiègne in 1941. The camp was used to intern French resistance fighters and Jews, among others. About 40,000 people were deported from the Royallieu-Compiègne camp to Auschwitz and other camps on German territory. A memorial on the historic premises has commemorated the history of the camp and the prisoners' fates since 2008.
Image: Compiégne, undated, Aerial view of the camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, undated, Aerial view of the camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu

Image: Compiégne, 2008, Entrance area to the memorial, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, 2008, Entrance area to the memorial, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Das »Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu« commemorates a German camp in occupied France. It was located in Compiègne - a most symbolic place, as this is where France and Germany twice signed armistice agreements, on November 11, 1918, and on June 22, 1940. At the end of the First World War, the armistice marked the defeat of the German Empire, while the armistice of 1940 meant the temporary victory of the German Wehrmacht over the French army.
At the end of June 1940, the Wehrmacht confiscated the Royallieu-Compiègne barracks complex and interned French and British prisoners of war on the site. The Security Service of the SS (SD) set up a camp on the site in June 1941, where it imprisoned, among others, resistance fighters, British and Russian internees and Jews residing in France. A total of up to 45,000 people were held at Royallieu-Compiègne between 1941 and 1944. On average, the SD incarcerated prisoners for a month; about 40,000 people were deported subsequently.
Royallieu-Compiègne was the point of departure for the first transport of Jews from France bound for the Auschwitz death camp (March 27, 1942). Prisoner transports were also headed to the concentration camps at Mauthausen, Dachau, Neuengamme, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück and Buchenwald. Royallieu was the most important transit camp for opponents of the Vichy Regime, which collaborated with Germany. Next to Struthof-Natzweiler, it was the only camp on French territory solely under German control. After the war, the premises were again used by the French army.
Image: Compiégne, undated, Aerial view of the camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, undated, Aerial view of the camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu

Image: Compiégne, 2008, Entrance area to the memorial, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, 2008, Entrance area to the memorial, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
In total, between 46,000 and 56,000 prisoners were held at Royallieu; a majority - about 70 percent - were political prisoners. 12 percent were Jews, who were subjected to the worst conditions at the camp. They were deported from Royallieu to the Auschwitz extermination camp. So-called hostages, mostly high-ranking French civil servants held under better conditions, represented some 8-9 percent of the inmates. Convicts were also held at the camp.
Image: Compiégne, June 18, 1944, Prisoners are deported to the Dachau concentration camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, June 18, 1944, Prisoners are deported to the Dachau concentration camp, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu

Image: Compiégne, 2008, »Wall of Names«, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, 2008, »Wall of Names«, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
In 2008, a memorial was opened on the historic site. Established in cooperation with French historian and director Christian Delage, it comprises an exhibition, a chapel, a »wall of names«, an escape tunnel and garden of remembrance.
Image: Compiégne, 2008, View of the exhibition, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, 2008, View of the exhibition, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu

Image: Compiégne, 2008, View of the exhibition, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Compiégne, 2008, View of the exhibition, Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Name
Mémorial de l´internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu
Address
2 bis avenue des Martyrs de la Liberté
60200 Compiègne
Phone
+33 (0) 344 963 700
Fax
+33 (0) 344 963 709
Web
http://www.memorial-compiegne.fr
E-Mail
corinne.valere@memorial-compiegne.fr
Open
Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (except Tuesdays)
Possibilities
Exhibition and historic trail, guided tours, educational programme for pupils