Camp des Milles in Aix en Provence was originally a tile and brick factory that was converted into an internment camp during World War II. Over 2,000 men, women, and children were detained at the camp awaiting deportation to Auschwitz, with living conditions deteriorating badly. Today, the site has been restored as a Holocaust memorial museum, featuring interactive displays about the camp's history and around 400 pieces of artwork and literature, serving as a reminder of the darker periods of history.

1. AIX EN PROVENCE
A Different Experience
By Travelbystander.com

2. AIX EN PROVENCE

3. Aix en Provence
Sightseeing should not just always involve seeking
opportunities to appreciate remarkable architecture,
wonderful paintings, or fabulous coastlines. Camp
des Milles in Aix en Provence is a case in point; it is, in
fact, a bleak reminder of a harsher, darker time.
Camp des Milles, a substantial brick building of
160,000 square feet set in 17 acres of ground, is a
former tile and brick factory which was converted
into an internment camp during WWII.
The camp was used as a transit area for Jews
awaiting deportation to Auschwitz. As the war
intensified, living conditions at Les Milles deteriorated
badly. In the late summer of 1942, Camp des Milles
saw approximately 2,000 men, women and children
being packed into railway wagons for deportation to
the death camps of Eastern Europe.

4. Today, the site has been restored and reopened as a
Holocaust memorial. The large museum inside, offers
interactive and educational displays about the
camp’s history, together with approximately 400
pieces of literature and artwork, including some wall
graffiti, which can still be seen today. For example,
The Room of Murals, a separate building that had
once been a canteen for the camp guards, is filled
with colourful scenes.
Turning the former factory and camp into a memorial
centre involved a prolonged and contested political
struggle; the President of the Fondation du Camp
des Milles suggested that one of the major reasons
for this was the reluctance to ‘open up unwanted
memories’.