TWO YEARS OF REFLECTING

For two years I try to find out more about the camp, asking local people and reading about it in books written, in the main, by local historians:
L'Archipel du Mépris, Histoire du Camp de Rivesaltes des 1939 à nos jours, by Joël Mettay (published by Trabucaire, 2001). www.trabucaire.com
Le Camp de Rivesaltes 1941-1942: Du centre d'Hebergement au "Drancy de la zone libre", by Anne Boitel
(published by Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 2000).
One of the most disturbing fact I come across in my readings is that, although the Vichy Government allocated funds to buy food for the inmates/prisoners, some guards steal food destined to the prisonners; including the food parcels sent by family, friends and relief agencies... A direct consequence of these thefts is death by starvation: a 'crime against humanity' that will never get prosecuted...
Reading the diary of Swiss Red Cross nurse FRIEDLE BOHNY-REITER, JOURNAL DE RIVESALTES (1941-1942), who worked in the camp between 1941 and 1942, to alleviate the ordeal of pregnant women and children, in close collaboration with the maternity of Elnes, opens up human perspectives about life in the camp.