Masseube

History

Masseube ("The farmhouse of the forest") was originally the name of a farm belonging to Escaladieu Abbey, in Bigorre. In 1274, the Abbey and Bernard IV of Astarac founded a bastide in Masseube. It got its customary laws 2 years later. The bastide still has its streets at right angles, an old house which is now the Mairie, and timbered houses. During the Nazi occupation of Vichy France, there was a Jewish internment camp. Some of the Jews who were originally involuntarily transported to the Gurs internment camp were then transported to the internment camp in Masseube. There were around 250 Jews interned in the camp in 1940. There were no medical services, showers, or hot water provided to the Jews in the camp. There was also severe food rationing. In 1943 the Jews held in the region were moved again: 40 of them were murdered at Auschwitz, 20 died at a hospital in Auch and a further ten died while interned at the Masseube camp.