BOIX: Either in infantry battalions or in the Foreign Legion, or in the
pioneer regiments attached to the Army to which I belonged. I was in the
Vosges with the 5th Army. We were taken prisoners. We retreated as far
as Belfort where I was taken prisoner in the night of 20-21 June 1940. I
was put with some fellow Spaniards and transferred to Mulhouse. Knowing
us to be former Spanish Republicans and anti-fascists, they put us in
among the Jews as members of a lower order of humanity (Untermensch). We
were prisoners of war for 6 months and then we learned that the Minister
for Foreign Affairs had had an interview with Hitler to discuss the
question of foreigners and other matters. We knew that our status had
been among the questions raised. We heard that the Germans had asked
what was to be done with Spanish prisoners of war who had served in the
French Army, those of them who were Republicans and ex-members of the
Republican Army. The answer . . .
M. DUBOST: Never mind that. So although you were a prisoner of war you
were sent to a camp not under Army control?
BOIX: Exactly. We were prisoners of war. We were told that we were being
transferred to a subordinate Kommando, like all the other Frenchmen.
Then we were transferred to Mauthausen where, for the first time, we saw
that there were no Wehrmacht soldiers and we realized that we were in an
extermination camp.