“They Are All Special Cases of Ill and Old People Who Need Better Care Than the Ordinary Intern” 1

This chapter examines the complexities of what happened at Camp Noé from the perspective of Karl Schwesig’s artwork, internees’ letters, aid workers’ reports, accounts from The New York Times, and internal Vichy documentation. Specifically, the chapter contrasts health conditions, including dietary concerns and the state of life at Noé, and opportunities for health recovery with the impression that outsiders, including sick internees from camps such as Gurs, their families, and reporters, may have gotten about the camp. By comparing what occurred both with what reporters were told and reported during the period, and with how the French government summarized what happened in its 1951 history of the French camp system, a clearer understanding of Camp Noé surfaces.