The fastest -growing Jewish cemetery in France is probably that of Camp de Gurs , refugee internment center in the Lower Pyrenees, where more than700 graves were dug during the past Winter, when the internees suffered particularly from frost and hunger.
Conditions in the Gurs camp have deteriorated considerably following its transfer from the military to the civil authorities , it is reported by well- informed observers.
While the central administration takes a friendly attitude towards charitable bodies and facilitates their work in the camps, the local camp administration treats the internees like criminals , taking no account of the reasons for their detention, hinders efforts of charitable organizations and imposes intolerable discipline on the internees.
For example, more than 12,000 Gurs internees are unable to communicate with each other unless they obtain special permits which are necessary to go from one group of barracks to another. The number of such permits does not exceed eight daily, although each group of barracks contains 200 internees. Thus members of a family are unable to communicate with each other more often than once monthly . Visits from outside , even those of the clergy, are permitted only in the presence of jailers.
Distribution of food parcels sent in by relatives is extremely irregular and private philanthropic bodies are unable to break the hostile spirit of the local camp administration.
Despite the large credits voted by the Government for camp welfare no improvement is noticeable, except for that which is due entirely to the efforts of the Joint Distribution Committee and other relief bodies.
With the Government funds comfortable premises were installed for members of the camp administration , while no improvement was made in the barracks for internees, who are badly off as ever.
The only bright exception to this situation is the Milles camp, to which refugees intending to emigrate are sent. They live there under conditions which are bearable but far from perfect.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
