Masseube Explained

Masseube
Commune Status:Commune
Image Coat Of Arms:Blason ville fr Masseube (Gers).svg
Coordinates:43.4308°N 0.5797°W
Arrondissement:Mirande
Canton:Astarac-Gimone
Intercommunality:Val de Gers
Mayor:Roger Breil[1]
Term:2020 - 2026
Area Km2:21.03
Elevation M:200
Elevation Min M:188
Elevation Max M:306
Insee:32242
Postal Code:32140

Masseube (in French pronounced as /masœb/; Masseuva in Gascon) is a commune in the Gers department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France.

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.[2] There were around 250 Jews interned in the camp in 1940.[3] 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.[4]

Population

Its inhabitants are called Massylvains in French.

Sites of interest

Notable people

Heraldry

The coat of arms was changed in 2009.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Répertoire national des élus: les maires. data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022. fr.
  2. News: Masseube. Un mémorial de la Shoah . 25 October 2021 . ladepeche.fr . 28 March 2010 . fr.
  3. News: Le camp de Masseube va inaugurer son mémorial . 25 October 2021 . SudOuest.fr . 18 October 2010 . fr-FR.
  4. News: Noachovich . Sophie . L'histoire des déportés de Masseube . 26 October 2021 . SudOuest.fr . 17 July 2011 . fr-FR.
  5. Web site: Blason . 2013-06-06 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130515144406/http://www.mairie-masseube.fr/index.php/ville/blason . 2013-05-15 .