Last February, our team member Laurence Prempain met French Manouche Raymond Gurême for an interview. He told his story.
When he was a child, his father owned a circus and a travelling cinema and the family toured in France, Belgium but also Switzerland. During the Second World War, altogether with his family, he was sent to a concentration camp in France from which he intended to escape. He managed after several attempts. His life path drove him to be active in French resistance and to be deported by the Germans after his arrest and conviction. Raymond Gurême returned from deportation. He died Sunday, 24th May 2020 at the age of 95.Photo by Laurence Prempain. Raymond Gurême in his caravan, 6th February 2020.