WALES U20 VISIT FRANCE’S ‘CAMP OF SHAME’

Members of the Wales U20 squad have visited an infamous internment camp near Perpignan to learn about its role in France’s recent history.

For the duration of the World Rugby U20 Championship, Wales have been based in Rivesaltes, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of southern France. Research of the local area showed that they were only some four kilometres away from what has been dubbed France’s “camp of shame”.

Today surrounded on one side by an industrial park, and on the other by the picturesque Pyrénées mountains, the Rivesaltes camp is now a memorial to those who either passed through or perished there.

Formerly known as ‘Camp Joffre’, it has been used down the years to house Spanish republicans (who were fleeing Franco’s dictatorship), refugees from the Algerian War, and as recently as 2007 was operational as an immigration detention centre.

However, its darkest hour came during the Second World War, when the Nazis used it to detain thousands of Jews and gypsies, before transporting them via Drancy to places such as Auschwitz-Birkenau. When the war ended, the camp became a prison for collaborators and Nazis, where it saw further suffering.

The newspaper El Pais described the camp, and its place in French history, as such: “The scene of so much horror and shameful infamy was surrounded by a deep silence for decades. Few people in France wanted to talk about that unhealthy, damp and mosquito-infested place, where prisoners were underfed, abused, used for slave labour and died from cholera by the dozen during the war years.”

Tommy Reffell, Wales U20 captain, said visiting the camp was an unnerving experience: “It’s abandoned now and the barracks are completely derelict, but on a boiling hot day you realise how brutal the conditions would have been. Reading about these moments in history is one thing, but walking around the camp is something different altogether.

“It made myself and the other players want to learn more about that era – how something so terrible could have happened here and in other parts of Europe. As sportsmen, we’re in a privileged position to be able to play across different countries. Many people don’t have the means to do that, so it’s only right that we make the most of these opportunities.”

Head coach Geraint Lewis said: “These players are very grounded as it is, but I know the trip to the memorial camp has made them reflect on larger issues. By the time we leave Perpignan on Monday, we’ll have been here just under a month, so we knew it was important for the boys to get out into the local area and find out more about its history.”

While in Perpignan, the squad has visited the coastal communes of Le Barcarès and Canet-en-Roussillon, the renowned Palace of the Kings of Majorca in the city centre, and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque, where they were treated to a reception by the town’s dignitaries.