Refugee «reception» spaces during the Second World War: French and Spanish internment camps and Portuguese «fixed residences»
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51349/veg.2026.1.15Keywords:
Second World War, Refugees, French and Spanish internment camps, Portuguese Fixed residencesAbstract
The invasion of the main Western European countries by the Nazis determined a tremendous turning point in European geopolitics and in the destinies of thousands of people, generating a violent process that would have socio-cultural and politico-economic repercussions on European society. It is therefore important to analyse, from an international point of view, the type of reception of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, in countries such as France, Spain and Portugal, between late 1939 and the 1940s. This article aims to analyse the “reception” logic of the internment camps comparatively – “camps de la honte” (GRYNBERG, 1999), especially the French camps of Milles, Gurs and Vernet d'Ariège and the Spanish camps such as Miranda de Ebro – to the Portuguese “fixed residences”, spas and bathing establishments. Through a comparative and qualitative approach, the aim is to compare and show how the logic of internment and the methods used marked the abysmal differences in terms of daily life, accommodation, food and sociability of refugees in transit through these countries.
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