Durruti Column
Between the wars, it served as a military depot. Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, in February 1939, it was put to a new use until September 1939 as a reception camp for Republicans fleeing from Francisco Franco's armies after the collapse of the Second Spanish Republic, holding those Republicans the French authorities deemed "a danger to public safety". At this time, it held mainly former soldiers from the Republican Durruti Column, the 26th Division and 150 International Brigades members, segregated in an area named "the leper colony". The camp covered an area of about 50 hectares, divided into three sections and surrounded by barbed wire fences.