Regrouper, surveiller et rapatrier

Histoire partielle des camps d’internement au Cameroun pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale (1939-1945)

Abstract

Under the French Cameroon administration, the administrative or political detention had as main objective to maintain the order throughout its legal bases which are forced labor and disciplinary sanctions. While targeting primarily the natives, during the Second World War, French nationals and foreigners were also victims of the administrative detention. On the behalf of « national defense », suspicious and dangerous individuals were arrested and expelled from the territory. In fact, to control those so called « dangerous » individuals, camps were set up at Ayos, Batschenga and Akometan to name some of them. The latter welcomed as well the French and foreign nationals settled in the territory as the sailors of boats Albi, Tuareg and « Cap des palmes » trapped at the time of mobilization. The Yaounde camp, created at 1939, was dedicated to jail German nationals who were mostly farmers. By imposing a military disciplinary regime within those camps, the living conditions could be only harsh. Addind to that point, psychological traumas could not be avoided, as the detainee families were forced to live initially together and later on inside separate camps.