Almost 22,000 prisoners—more than 18,000 of them Jewish—passed through the Gurs camp in France. Living conditions in Gurs were overcrowded. Prisoners faced a constant shortage of water, food, and clothing. Many of the camp's Jewish prisoners were ultimately transported to killing centers in occupied Poland.
![View of the Gurs camp as photographed from a water tower. [LCID: 03100]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/d39b6d11-a709-4102-96b1-1713bac89079.jpg "View of the Gurs camp as photographed from a water tower. [LCID: 03100]")
View of the Gurs camp as photographed from a water tower. Gurs, France, ca. 1941.
Item View![Women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03425]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/313d5561-c6b0-421c-8e97-74f59ded76a1.jpg "Women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03425]")
Women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. 1943.
Item View![Women prisoners standing in front of barracks at the Gurs camp. [LCID: 03423]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/0926b248-a9c2-44e6-92f9-350e21cf2833.jpg "Women prisoners standing in front of barracks at the Gurs camp. [LCID: 03423]")
Women prisoners standing in front of barracks at the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. 1943.
Item View![Jewish women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03422]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f9b6eec8-cb6a-4a96-ad87-77347a1d9f16.jpg "Jewish women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03422]")
Jewish women prisoners in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. 1943.
Item View![A group of foreign-born Jews poses for a photo in Gurs, a French internment camp in southwestern France. [LCID: 80148]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c230d482-c099-476f-af2e-979f283dca93.jpg "A group of foreign-born Jews poses for a photo in Gurs, a French internment camp in southwestern France. [LCID: 80148]")
A group of foreign-born Jews poses for a photo in Gurs, a French internment camp in southwestern France. Gurs, France, 1941.
Samuel Liebermensch is pictured at the center. Hugo Mayer is seated on the lower right. Siegfried Lindheimer is pictured in the first row , second from the left.
Item View![Crowded living conditions: prisoners inside a barracks at Gurs detention camp. [LCID: 86453]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/85341eb1-772a-4c72-a802-2dae1a9e9ca0.jpg "Crowded living conditions: prisoners inside a barracks at Gurs detention camp. [LCID: 86453]")
Crowded living conditions: prisoners inside a barracks at Gurs detention camp. France, probably 1940.
Item View![Jewish women prisoners behind a barbed-wire fence at the Gurs detention camp. [LCID: 78704]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/bc72efe3-7468-406c-9bee-5a0fc7ac6377.jpg "Jewish women prisoners behind a barbed-wire fence at the Gurs detention camp. [LCID: 78704]")
Jewish women prisoners behind a barbed-wire fence at the Gurs detention camp. France, between 1940 and 1943.
Item View
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
![Prisoners at Gurs detention camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03086]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/4e3472e8-9f20-495b-a487-bca5e68dc7e8.jpg "Prisoners at Gurs detention camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03086]")
![Deportation of German Jews to France, where Vichy officials would intern them in the Gurs camp (in southwestern France). [LCID: 77895]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e8b8233d-f920-4335-8036-d5b7d2eea07d.jpg "Deportation of German Jews to France, where Vichy officials would intern them in the Gurs camp (in southwestern France). [LCID: 77895]")
![Young children in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03430]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/08967f1c-b8be-439f-9343-894d44bff867.jpg "Young children in the Gurs camp. Gurs, France, ca. [LCID: 03430]")