The internment centre and former concentration camp in Rivesaltes will be closed during 2008. A new purpose-built facility has recently opened, aptly the same year that work starts on the first French permanent memorial and museum to the internees.
The museum design is by awardwinning architect Rudy Ricciotti. The conseil général has bought the Ilot F (plot F), Camp Maréchal Joffre at Rivesaltes from the state for €100,000.
The internment facility covers many acres and still bears signs of the French military. It was built for the army in 1938, as war loomed over Europe. But that year the French government announced that “undesirable foreigners” could be interned. Rivesaltes became such a camp for many Spanish Republicans fleeing Franco’s troops.
In 1942, part of the Rivesaltes camp was designated as the ‘Regional centre for the gathering of Jews’. From here thousands of Jews were shipped to Drancy and on to camps such as Auschwitz.

The largest private development in France has just won outline planning consent. The Cox brothers have been given the go-ahead by the authorities in Montagnac and Béziers and the département’s DDE for two massive developments, with work starting at Lavagnac, near Montagnac in the Hérault this autumn.
The original bid for tenders attracted 32 developers pitching for the work. They were narrowed down to eight and then three. Finally Charles and Barry Cox from North London were chosen for this huge undertaking.
At the centre is the old château – a listed monument with its outbuildings which are to be transformed into a 75- suite five-star hotel. A Paris-based company, Jason, which already owns two other five-star château hotels, is investing €20 million in the conversion, which includes a health spa and all the facilities needed to make this the most luxurious hotel in the area. “The choice of Jason is crucial as they have a great deal of experience in dealing with Bâtiments de France, who oversee the preservation of buildings with National Heritage status,” said Charles Cox.