Moritz Schoenberger sitting in front of some of his artwork in the Les Milles internment camp.

Red Cross letter sent from Ludwig Cohn, a Jewish prisoner in the Les Milles internment camp, to his sister Ilse Cohn in Brussels, Belgium.

The Camp des Milles was a French internment camp, opened in September 1939, in a former tile factory near the village of Les Milles, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence.

Between 1941 and 1942 Le Camp des Milles was used as a transit camp for Jews, mainly men. Women were at the Centre Bompard in Marseille, while they waited for their visa and authorizations to emigrate. As emigration became impossible, Les Milles became one of the centres de rassemblement before deportation. About 2,000 of the inmates were shipped off to the Drancy internment camp on the way to Auschwitz.

The camp was first used to intern Germans and ex-Austrians living in the Marseille area, and by June 1940, some 3,500 artists and intellectuals were detained there. Inmates included men of letters such as Leon Feuchtwanger (photo, bottom left), a Yiddish novelist and playwright.

Artist Moritz Schoenberger (third from right) with
other Jewish inmates in Les Milles concentration camp.

Building which served as a concentration camp at Camp des Milles. Photo from Wikipedia, taken in 2007.

Lion Feuchtwanger (1884-1958), German-Jewish novelist, playwright, essayist, during his internment in the Les Milles camp.
Les Milles, France, 1940.

Jewish prisoners celebrate the holiday of Hoshanah Rabbah
in a Sukkah in the Les Milles transit camp.