On 12 January 2026, the city of Montreuil-Bellay, France, organised a site visit and stakeholders’ presentation of the project of interpretive trail and permanent exhibition space to be located nearby the internment camp site. The project brings together the municipality, the prefecture, the State, and the academic world, as well as representatives from Roma communities (Association Nationale des Gens du Voyage) to ensure this former site of suffering becomes a place of remembrance, dignity, and respect.
The Montreuil-Bellay camp was one of the main internment camps for “Nomads” in France following the promulgation of the German order to intern them in the occupied zone (4 October 1940). From November 1941 to January 1945, nearly 2,000 men, women and children were interned there. The history of the site was revealed in the early 1980s with the publication of the work of schoolteacher Jacques Sigot (1940-2024). Over the past forty years, thanks to individual and municipal initiatives, this important site has been rescued from oblivion.
The site, of which only ruins remain, was classified as a historic monument in 2012. In 2016, in Montreuil-Bellay, 70 years after the liberation of the last nomadic internees, the French president acknowledged France's responsibility for this internment. Since then, the ‘Résistance & Liberté’ Regional Centre (Thouars-79), a scientific, cultural and educational partner of the town of Montreuil-Bellay, has been offering a programme of educational activities for all audiences to combat antigypsyism (site visits, educational workshops, travelling exhibition).
This marks the start of a heritage preservation process that should culminate in autumn 2027 with the creation of the first memorial dedicated to the history of the internment of “Nomads” in France.
The project includes an interpretive trail on the heritage site and a permanent exhibition space in a nearby building. These two distinct but complementary elements will provide the target audience with insights into the history of the site while respecting its memorial dimension.
As highlighted by JP EU-CoE RomaMemory, which aims at promoting Roma Holocaust remembrance and education, honoring these specific memory sites is vital to ensuring that the historical persecutions of Roma and Travellers are never forgotten.