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Origin and history

Borredon station was built by the State as part of the Montauban-Cahors line, which was declared a public utility in 1879. Inaugurated in 1884 by the Compagnie du PO, it initially served the communes of Montpezat and Lapenche. Its building, awarded in 1883, was part of a larger project to connect Toulouse to Paris via a strategic railway.

In February 1939, the station became a tragic arrival point for thousands of Spanish Republican refugees. These prisoners, transferred from the camps of the Côte Vermeille, were sent to the concentration camp of Judes at Septfonds. The testimonies evoke inhuman conditions: absence of shelter, rain, and forced marches for the first 3,000 arrivals in two days. The authorities chose this isolated station to avoid any movement of public sympathy.

The station ceased its railway activity in the 1980s. Its buildings, sold by SNCF in the 1990s, were first converted into a restaurant. Since 2012, they have been home to a memorial site managed by the Mémoire de l'Espagne Républicaine association, after registering for historical monuments in 2011. Today, this site commemorates the fate of the 16,000 Spanish soldiers interned nearby.

Architecturally modest, the station derives its importance from its historical role. Its heritage inscription highlights its memorial dimension, linked to the Spanish republican exile and the beginnings of deportations to the Nazi camps. The barracks of the Judes camp, built by the internees themselves, symbolize the suffering endured on this site.

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