CAFI Memorial

Memorial to the Vietnamese refugees of the 1956 CAFI camp

The CAFI (Centre d'Accueil des Français d'Indochine) was for fifty years a slice of Vietnam on the banks of the Lot. The original wooden barracks have largely been demolished and replaced with new housing, but a memorial garden, a small museum, and the Pagode Tu-An preserve the story. The pagoda, painted in the traditional red and gold, is incongruous against the southwestern French roofs around it.

Visits to the memorial are free; the museum opens by appointment or during summer afternoons — check at the town tourist office. The annual Têt celebration here in late January or February is the most visible expression of the community that grew out of the camp.

things to do landmark
A story
In 1956, after the French defeat in Indochina, more than a thousand Vietnamese — most of them women and children with French citizenship — were resettled in a former munitions depot on the edge of Sainte-Livrade. The camp, the Centre d'Accueil des Français d'Indochine, stayed open for half a century, with the last families only relocated in 2008. A small Vietnamese community remains in the town today.