Raymond Gurême

Raymond Gurême (11 August 1925 – 25 May 2020) was a French Romani activist, circus performer, and Holocaust survivor. He is known for his various escapes from internment camps during World War II, as well as his involvement in the French Resistance Movement.

Early years Born to a Manouche family in Meigneux, Seine-et-Marne, who owned a traveling circus and cinema, he spent his early years touring around France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Later in his childhood, he also became a horse tamer and assisted with the family cinema.

First escape During his time in Linas-Montlhéry, Gurême attempted his first escape with his brother on 26 July 1941. However, their escape was short-lived, and the two were arrested and denounced on August 14 of the same year. Following his recapture, he was placed in a high discipline camp in Oberursel. In this camp, his work involved the retrieval of dead bodies from buildings attacked by the Allies. During his time in Oberursel, he experienced severe and violent conditions. In his autobiography, Gurême recalls intentionally working slowly in the camp, which was responded to with violent punishment.

While working in a train station during his time in Oberursel, Gurême encountered another opportunity to escape. On 15 June 1944, he hid inside a pile of coal in a train going to France, getting help from the train's French driver.

Returning to France Once Gurême returned to France, hearing of the D-day landings of Allied forces in Normandy on 6 June 1944, he decided to re-join the Resistance. He managed to meet up with the French Forces of the Interior (FFI), which accepted him into their forces despite his nomad status. During this time, the FFI were receiving orders from London through the exiled French government and fought diligently for the reoccupation of Paris by Allied forces. Gurême was involved in various missions in Porte de la Chapelle, Saint-Denis, Enghien, Pontoise and Argenteuil, as well as street fighting during the liberation of Paris. On August 25, 1944, the liberation of Paris marked the surrender of Nazi forces in Paris.

Despite the full liberation of France at the end of WWII, there were still interned nomads up until June 1946. This made it difficult for Gurême to reunite with his family after the war.

The Gurême family after Linas-Montlhéry After Raymond was separated from the rest of the Gurême family following his transfer to the reformatory in 1941, they proceeded to get transferred between multiple internment camps in the following years. First to a camp in Mulsanne in April 1942, then to Montreuil-Bellay in August 1942 . The Gurême family was liberated in 1943. In 1950, Raymond got word from a Belgian fairground worker that his family was near Vielsalm, Belgium. Raymond proceeded to drive and walk 400 kilometers in order to reunite with his family.

Post-war life and recognition After World War II, the Gurême family had nothing left, with their caravan, circus, and other possessions gone by Raymond's return to France in 1944. They received neither financial compensation nor recognition from the French state until 2010, when Secretary of State for Defense and Veterans Affairs Hubert Falco recognized the racist nature of nomadic internment during WWII in his speech on the National Day of Remembrance of the victims of racist and anti-Semitic persecutions. Moreover, despite being eligible for a 'political internee' card and applying for one in the 1980s, it took almost 27 years for Gurême to receive in 2009. On April, 2011 Gurêmewas awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres honorary distinction from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

Despite the growing number of tributes to nomadic people who were interned during the war, Gurême continued to face discrimination after the war. Most notably, on September 23, 2014, Raymond was approached by French policemen, who requested to carry out a search of his trailer. 89 year old at the time, Gurême refused to let them in, which lead to an alleged severe beating of Gurême.

Testimony and activism In 2004, Gurême testified for the first time about his experiences during the war in front of the General Assembly of the Departmental Association of Voyageurs (AGDV). Gurême continued telling his story to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers across France and Europe. He also visited Auschwitz yearly for the international youth meetings, telling his story to the younger generation.

In 2017, Gurême strongly opposed the French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Personal life After the war, Gurême married Pauline and had 15 children. Together, the married couple worked as scrap dealers, market vendors, and migrant farm workers. In the 1960s, Gurême decided to buy a plot of land in front of the Linas-Montlhéry camp, and his family continues to live there to this day.

Gurême died on 24 May 2020, at the age of 95.