Château d'en Bardou: A refuge in the Pyrenees

The Château d'en Bardou, known as the Maternité suisse d'Elne, sits in a quiet town in France’s Pyrénées-Orientales region. It was built in 1901-1902 by Eugène Bardou, whose family - the papermakers JOB - made paper for the French army. But this chateau has another, surprising history. In 1939, it became a refuge for mothers and babies during the tumultuous years after the Spanish Civil War. The conflict had brutally uprooted thousands of Spanish families, who fled north to the French border.

Many ended up in refugee camps, where conditions were harsh. In these camps, pregnant women faced dire circumstances, with high mortality rates among both mothers and newborns. Recognizing this need, humanitarian organizations started creating temporary maternities to provide better care. The Swiss charity Ayuda Suiza, together with other organizations, set up Château d’en Bardou as a maternité suisse, also known as the Mothers of Elne. The first pregnant women arrived at the maternity in December 1939.

They came from refugee camps, and many were Spanish, although later on, the maternity also welcomed Jewish women and children fleeing Europe. The maternity was staffed by Swiss nurses, who brought newborns into the world in basic conditions. Essential renovations included adding cots for babies, simple furniture, and a kitchen for nurses. From 1942, the maternity was supported by the Croix-Rouge suisse (Swiss Red Cross), and it functioned until 1944.

It was a crucial and lifesaving space for thousands of French children during one of the darkest periods in European history.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons