In Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes, a small village on the edge of the Yonne department in the German-occupied part of France, around 300 individuals classified as ‘Nomades’ were interned in a detention camp between 21 June 1941 and 18 December 1945.
House Arrest and Internment
On the basis of a German decree of 6 April 1940 restricting the freedom of movement of Sinti and Roma on French territory for the duration of the war, those designated as ‘Nomades’ in the Yonne department were placed under enforced residence in several municipalities from 24 April 1940. On 21 October 1940, the Feldkommandantur of Auxerre instructed the Prefect of Yonne, Joseph Bourgeois (1893–unknown), to intern 126 individuals already in enforced residence. However, the implementation of the order was delayed because more than 300 ‘undesirable foreigners’ expelled from the coastal zone by the German authorities were transferred to the department and subsequently interned in Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes.
In the meantime, the Prefect decided to place the ‘Nomades’ under enforced residence at a single location in early 1941. Following the transfer of the ‘undesirable foreigners’, the Prefect ordered the internment of the ‘Nomades’ at the Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes camp on 21 June 1941. This camp, which had been set up in 1939 on the site of a disused railway station located about a kilometre from the village, had previously been used to house families who had fled the Spanish Civil War.
Composition of the Internees
An undated list held in the Yonne departmental archives lists 207 internees, including 37 families and two individuals. They were in possession of a ‘carnet anthropométrique’ [anthropometric identity card], introduced in France in 1912, and came predominantly from the Yonne and neighbouring departments. Among the internees were also several families who lived in the departments bordering Belgium and had been arrested in the Nièvre department, where they had sought refuge since the start of World War II. Most of the internees were French citizens, including a Gazé de la Grande Guerre [World War I gas victim] as well as veterans of both World Wars. The presence of Germans from Alsace and Lorraine, as well as Belgians, Italians and Spaniards, is also documented.
The frequency of arrivals suggests that the ‘Nomades’ were interned as soon as they were discovered and arrested by the French gendarmerie or the German authorities. Among the 171 internees recorded in November 1943, 63 were under the age of thirteen and 35 were between thirteen and 21 years old.
Surveillance and Living Conditions
The camp staff, reporting to the prefect, consisted of a director, who also ran a camp in Saint-Denis-lès-Sens, a civilian guard and two nurses from the Red Cross. Three gendarmes were responsible for guarding the camp. Until 19 January 1942, the ‘Nomades’ were permitted to leave the camp without authorisation to obtain food. In 1943, the camp was fenced off with railway sleepers and barbed wire, and leaving the camp was therefore only possible with permission.
The families were housed either in wooden huts, which offered insufficient protection in this cold and damp region, or in their caravans, which were parked at the end of the yard. Over time, the living conditions steadily worsened. The situation of the children was particularly alarming, as indicated by a report from December 1944: ‘Half of them go barefoot at least, and many small children have nothing to wear but an old, torn shirt. The lack of clean clothes makes it impossible to dry the children off and keep them warm.’1AD Yonne, 1W527, Rapport de Mlle Hérold, assistante sociale départementale, 15 December 1944. Translation into English: Emanuel Marx L’Huillier.
The adults were required to work: they made wicker baskets within the camp or were employed outside the camp on agricultural or forestry estates. In August 1942, 38 internees worked outside the camp with the permission of the German authorities. Around twenty men were taken away to perform forced labour in Germany. In total, only a few internees were released from the camp: seven people in 1942 and fifteen in 1943.
The School
The children attended a school set up within the camp. The organisation of teaching there remained uncoordinated and inconsistent for a long time. In October 1941, teaching was assigned to a trained nurse with a state diploma, before she was replaced in September 1942 by the wife of a teacher who was a prisoner of war in Germany. Three months later, a Spanish internee took over this role, although the administration questioned his suitability due to language deficiencies. It was not until 1943 that the school authorities officially appointed a teacher. After he was conscripted in March 1945, the position remained unfilled, so that instruction could no longer be maintained until the camp was dissolved.
Escape Attempts and Closure of the Camp
During the four years of the camp’s operation, there were numerous escape attempts. Around a third of the internees made at least one attempt. As the duration of internment increased, tensions escalated significantly. In October 1945, five months after the end of the war, the families began to demand their release with increasing urgency. A ministerial circular dated 17 November 1945 finally ordered the closure of the camp. The Prefect of Yonne implemented this decision in two stages: on 6 December 1945, 128 people were released, and on 18 December a further 21. In spite of the Prefect’s directive, they were not placed under enforced residence again.
Remembrance
The existence of the camp was concealed for a long time and was eventually mentioned only on the website of the municipality of Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes.2https://stmaurice89.fr/fr/rb/1492493/camp-dinternement-et-de-refugies [accessed: 12/03/2026]. On 20 September 2025, the municipality unveiled a memorial stele in honour of the internees, including the families persecuted as ‘Nomades’. The monument bears an image of the camp’s barracks and features a wagon wheel, commemorating the presence and experiences of the families held at the camp. The initiative was supported by the association De-mavie (Devoir de mémoire aux voyageurs internés et leurs enfants), which is dedicated to preserving the memory of the internees and their children.
