Masseube (; ''Masseuva'' in Gascon) is a commune in the

Gers Gers (; or , ) is a departments of France, department in the regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to ...

department in the Occitanie region in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

History

Masseube ("The farmhouse of the forest") was originally the name of a farm belonging to

Escaladieu Abbey Escaladieu Abbey (French language, French: ''l'Abbaye de l'Escaladieu'') was a Cistercians, Cistercian abbey located in the France, French ''Communes of France, commune'' of Bonnemazon in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Its name derives from the Latin ''S ...

, in

Bigorre Bigorre (; Gascon: ''Bigòrra'') is a region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region k ...

. In 1274, the Abbey and Bernard IV of Astarac founded a

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the 13th and 14th centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the first bastides ...

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 Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

occupation of

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

, there was a Jewish internment camp. Some of the Jews who were originally involuntarily transported to the

Gurs internment camp Gurs internment camp (, ) was an internment camp and prisoner of war camp constructed in 1939 in Gurs, a site in southwestern France, not far from Pau. The camp was originally set up by the French government after the fall of Catalonia at t ...

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 Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

, 20 died at a hospital in Auch and a further ten died while interned at the Masseube camp.

Population

Its inhabitants are called ''Massylvains'' in French.

Sites of interest

* Église Saint-Christophe, originally from the 13th Century c., was reconstructed in 1700; it was again rebuilt in 1883 when it was threatening to topple. The only conserved pieces are the lower part of the façade and the tower. The rest was reconstructed in the style of the 13th Century. In 1932–33, in honor of the 50th year after the renovation, Paul Noël Lasseran was called to paint murals. He finished a majority of them before his death in 1933. * Rue Lagrange: This road is spanned by a cover which connects to buildings which were originally agricultural.

Notable people

* Jean-Marie Ducos: Deputy of Gers and member of the First French Parliament from 1798 to 1799.

Heraldry

The coat of arms was changed in 2009.

References

{{authority control Communes of Gers