Bedeau camp

Bedeau camp was an internment camp established by Vichy France in April 1941 to hold North African Jewish conscripts that were removed from regular combat units and assigned to work units where they were subjected to forced labour. The camp was situated in the remote commune of Bedeau (today Ras El Ma) in French Algeria. On arrival, internees were made to hand over their uniforms in exchange for ones that were dyed black, for which they earned the nickname les corbeaux (the crows). Internees were forced to unload munitions and complete tasks such as harvesting esparto grass and breaking rubble. After March 1942, the camp was placed under civilian authority. Internees were subjected to a disciplinary measure known as 'the tomb', which was common in other camps, where individuals would be made to dig a hole and lie in it under the blazing sun for extended periods of time. Following the Allied landings, General Henri Giraud initially attempted to maintain the exclusion of Jewish conscripts from combat units. The mobilisation class of 1939 was recalled to service, with Jewish conscripts assigned to the work units. As a result, the number of Jews interned at Bedeau swelled from several hundred to likely several thousand. During this period, Sidney Chouraqui and Germain Ayache drafted a Manifesto des Juifs de Bedeau (Manifesto of the Jews of Bedeau) that articulated their grievances

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