SISTERON

The Sisteron camp was in a fortress (Fort de Sisteron) located in the town of Sisteron (Alpes-de-Haute Département). Sisteron is nearly 109 kilometers (68 miles) south of Grenoble and more than 119 kilometers (74 miles) northwest of Nice. Sisteron was an administrative internment camp and was sometimes described as a confinement center (Centre de Séjour Surveillé, CSS) in the Southern Zone. The first prisoners were “undesirable” French common criminals, and the camp later held black marketeers and some communists. The citadel’s military barracks were adapted to house civilian suspects, initially both male and female. Historically Sisteron had water supply problems and lacked sanitation facilities, but a new water and sanitation system was installed for the internment center, so the reservoirs were always full.1 The prospect of infrastructure improvement was one of the reasons why Sisteron’s mayor was eager to lend the citadel to the Vichy regime free of charge. From May to September...