Further to the west, Anne-Lise's father, Dr Henri Stern, was able to focus of food and care for internees at Gurs. The camp had originally been set up to accommodate returning "internationalist" fighters from the Spanish Civil War and was now being used to hold political and race based refugees from Nazi Germany. There was none of the systematic killing that was becoming a feature of the so-called death camps in Germany, and security, at least before 1942, was chiefly dependent on the extremely isolated position of the camp. There were stories of inmates freely visiting the nearest village during the daytime and returning to their camp accommodation in the evenings. But conditions were basic and food was in short supply. Henri Stern was able to extract from the camp his own mother and five other women from Mannheim. He accommodated them in a house which he rented for the purpose at Gelos near Pau. He also collaborated with the , a Resistance contact known to be working with the OSE and the Cimade, in order to try and rescue children who had been interned at Gurs.