The Royallieu-Compiègne was an German internment and deportation camp located in the north of France in the city of Compiègne, open from June 1941 to August 1944. French resistance fighters and Jews were among some of the prisoners held in this camp. It is estimated that around 40,000 people were deported from the Royallieu-Compiègne camp to other camps in the German territory of the time.
The camp's main function was as a deport base. The main camp that Royallieu-Compiègne deported to was Auschwitz among various other concentration camps. On March 27, 1942, the camp made its first round of Jewish deportations to Auschwitz.
The camp was shut down after the liberation of France. Visitors were not allowed until the opening of the memorial in early 2008.
On February 23, 2008, a memorial to internment and deportation (Mémorial de l'internement et de la déportation Camp de Royallieu) was opened on the site of the former internment and deportation camp of Compiègne.
The memorial site consists of a physical tour of the ground as well as educational tours of the individual rooms and barracks that the grounds consist of. As the site's memorial developed, it came to include a wall of names with those who were recorded as having been detained at the grounds as well as an escape route and a Garden of Remembrance.
References:The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.
In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians.