The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

The Germans established Ilag Saint-Denis (today Seine-Saint-Denis), northeast of Paris, in June 1940 (map 2). The internment camp was subordinate to the Armed Forces Commander France, Administrative District (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Frankreich, Verwaltungsbezirk) until June 21, 1941, when it ceased to be an independent camp. On July 28, 1941, it became a dependent camp of Frontstalag 122 in Compiègne and was subordinate to the Military Commander of Northwest France (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Nordwestfrankreich).

The camp held American, British, and Commonwealth civilians who had been in continental Western Europe when the war broke out. Conditions in the camp were generally decent. However, a Red Cross inspector who visited the camp on June 5, 1943, reported that the camp was overcrowded. A subsequent visitor reported that there were 1,909 internees in the camp as of October 5, 1943. This inspector believed that [End Page 561] transferring about 200 internees to other camps would relieve the overcrowding. The inspector who visited in June noted that there was a shortage of clothing, particularly for those internees who were working, and that a reserve supply of clothing should be created; the October visitor reported that this issue had been addressed. Other problems noted in June 1943 included the presence of vermin in the barracks and a minimal selection available in the camp canteen, although the former problem had apparently been solved by October 1943.¹

According to the journal The Prisoner of War, the internees lived in a collection of barracks and huts, all of which were heated. Indoor and outdoor games were available, as were a library, theater, orchestra, art classes, and a school. The YMCA provided most of the materials for intellectual and artistic activities in the camp. A camp committee of British subjects directed all the activities. Medical and dental care were available. The internees received the same rations as German civilians, plus weekly Red Cross parcels. Religious services were available for both Catholics and Protestants, and the internees could both send and receive mail.² The Germans disbanded the camp in August 1944.