Forty-Second Day:
Thursday, 24rd January, 1946
Page 136]
I shall describe to you in detail two cases which spread
grief in the hearts of the French in the course of the month
of October 1941, and which have remained present in the
memory of all my compatriots.
They are known as the "executions of Chateaubriant and of
Bordeaux." They are related in Document 415 in your document
book, which I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit RF 285.
After the attack on two German officers at Nantes on 20
October 1941, and another in Bordeaux a few days later, the
German Army decided to make an example. You will find, on
Page 22 of Document 415, a copy of the notice in the
newspaper "Le Phare," on 21 October, 1941. It is the last
page of the document:
As expiation for this crime I have ordered that 50
hostages be shot, to begin with. Because of the gravity
of the crime, 50 more hostages will
[Page 137]
Stulpnagel, who was commanding the German troops in France,
ordered the Ministry of the Interior to select prisoners.
These prisoners were to be selected from among the
Communists who were considered the most dangerous (these are
the terms of Stulpnagel's order). A list of 60 Frenchmen was
furnished by the Minister of the Interior. This was Pucheu.
He has since been tried by my compatriots, sentenced to
death and executed.
On the first page you will find a copy of the letter from
the Sub-prefect ofChateaubriant to the Kommandantur of
Chateaubriant, in reply to the order which he received from
the Minister of the Interior:
On Page 16 you will find a list of 48 names. On Page 13 you
will find the list of those who were shot in Nantes. On Page
12 you will find the list of those who were shot in
Chateaubriant. From these lists you will observe that the
bodies were sent out for burial to all the surrounding
communes.
I shall read to you the testimony of eyewitnesses as to how
they were buried after having been shot. On Page 3 of this
document you will find that note of M. Dumesnil, concerning
the executions of 21 October 1941, which was drawn up the
day after these executions. The second paragraph reads:
The Abbe Fontaine said to the condemned: 'Gentlemen, you
must understand, alas, what my presence means.' He then
spoke with the prisoners collectively and individually
for the two hours which the officers had said would be
granted to arrange the personal affairs of the
condemned, and to write their last wills to their
families.
The execution had been fixed for 2 o'clock in the
afternoon, half an hour having been allowed for the
journey. But the two hours passed by, another hour
passed, and still another hour before the condemned were
sent for. There were some, like M. Fourny, who were
optimistic by nature, and hoped that a countermanding
order would be given. The priest himself did not at all
believe this.
The condemned were all very brave. It was two of the
youngest, Gloux and Grolleau, who were students, who
constantly encouraged the
[Page 138]
When they left, the priest, for reasons which were not
explained to him, was not authorised to accompany the
hostages to the place of execution. He went down the
stairs of the prison with them as far as the truck. They
were chained together in twos. The thirteenth had on
handcuffs. Once they were in the truck, Gloux and
Grolleau made another gesture of farewell to him,
smiling and waving their chained hands.
Signed: Dumesnil (Counsellor attached to the Cabinet)."
At Choisel Camp the German authorities had, for some
days, put into special quarters a certain number of men
who were to serve as hostages in case of special
difficulties. It was from among these men that those who
were to be shot on this evening of 22 October 1941 were
chosen.
The Cure of Bere was finishing his lunch when M. Moreau
presented himself. M. Moreau was Chief of Choisel Camp.
In a few words the latter explained to him the object of
his visit; that, having been delegated by M. Lecornu,
the Sub-prefect of Chateaubriant, he had come to inform
him that 27 men selected from among the political
prisoners of Choisel, were to be executed that
afternoon, and he asked Monsieur Le Cure to go
immediately to attend them.
The priest said he was ready to accomplish this mission,
and he went to the prisoners without delay. When the
priest appeared to carry out his mission, the Sub-
prefect was already with the condemned. He had come to
announce the horrible fate which was awaiting them,
asking them to write letters of farewell to their
families without delay. It was under these circumstances
that the priest arrived at the entrance to the
quarters." [Page 139]
I learned subsequently that these were hostages who had
just been taken from Choisel Camp, to be led to the
quarry of Sabliere on the Soudan Road, to be shot in
reprisal for the murder in Nantes of the German Colonel
Hotz.
About two hours later these same trucks came back from
the quarry and drove into the court of the Chateau of
Chateaubriant, where the bodies of the men who had been
shot were deposited in a cellar until coffins could be
made.
On coming back from the quarry the trucks were covered
and no noise was heard, but a stream of blood escaped
from them and left a mark on the road from the quarry to
the castle.
The following day, 23 October, the bodies of the men who
had been shot were put into coffins, without any French
persons being present, the entrances to the chateau
having been guarded by German sentinels, and were taken
to the cemeteries of the surrounding communes,three
coffins per commune. The Germans were careful to choose
communes to which there was no regular transport
service, presumably to avoid the population's going en
masse to the graves of these martyrs.
I was not present at the departure of the hostages from
the camp nor at the shooting in the quarry of Sabliere,
as the approaches to it were guarded by German soldiers
armed with machine guns."
You will find the first document issued by the Section of
Political Affairs, dated 22 October 1941, marked 400-F (C),
at the bottom of which you will read:
These operations have been in progress since this
morning. So far no result of interest has been brought
to my attention. In addition, this morning at 11 o'clock
the German authorities informed me of the reprisal
measures which they had decided to take against the
population."
To the Prefect of the Gironde
As expiation for the cowardly murder of the Councillor
of War, Reimers, the military Commander in France has
ordered fifty hostages to be executed. The execution
will take place to-morrow.
In the case of the murderers not being arrested in the
very near future, other measures will be taken, as in
the case of Nantes.
[Page 140]
Chief of the Military Regional Administration
Signed : von Faber du Faur."
There is a famous place in the suburbs of Paris, which has
become a place of pilgrimage for the French since our
liberation. It is the Fort of Romainville. During the
occupation the Germans converted this fort into a hostage
depot, from which they selected victims when they wanted to
take revenge after some patriotic demonstration. It is from
Romainville that Professors Jacques Solomon, Decourtemanche,
Georges Politzer, Dr. Boer and six other Frenchmen went
forth. They were arrested in March 1942, tortured by the
Gestapo, then executed without trial in the month of May
1942.
On 19 August, 1942, 96 hostages left this fort, among them
Monsieur Le Gall, a municipal councillor of Paris. They left
the fort of Romainville, were transferred to Mont-Valerien,
and executed.
In September 1942, an attack had been made against some
German soldiers at the Rex Cinema in Paris. General von
Stulpnagel issued a proclamation announcing that, because of
this attack, he had ordered 116 hostages to be shot and that
extensive measures of deportation were to be taken. You will
find an extract from this newspaper in Document 402 under
letter "B."
The notice was worded as follows:
As reprisal for these attacks I have had 116 communist
terrorists shot, whose participation or implication in
terroristic acts has been proved by confessions.
In addition, severe measures of repression have been
taken to prevent incidents on the occasion of
demonstrations planned by the communists for 20
September 1942.
I ordered the following:
From Saturday, 19 September 1942, at 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, until Sunday, 20 September 1942, at midnight,
all theatres, cinemas, cafes and other places of
amusement shall remain closed to the French population
in the Departments of the Seine, Seine-et-Oise and Seine-
et-Marne; all public demonstrations, including sport
activities, are forbidden.
From Sunday, 20 September 1942, from 3 o'clock in the
afternoon until midnight, it is forbidden to non-German
civilians to move about in the streets and on public
squares in the Departments of the Seine, the Seine-et-
Oise and the Seine-et-Marne. The only exceptions are
persons representing official services, etc."
All lived during that day in expectation of the call that
would be made that evening. Those who were called knew their
fate beforehand. All died innocent of the crimes for which
they were being executed, for those who were responsible for
the attack in the Rex Cinema were arrested a few days later.
It was in Bordeaux that the 70 other hostages, of the total
of 116 announced by General von Stulpnagel, were executed.
In reprisal for the murder of Ritter, the German official of
the Labour Front, 50 other hostages were shot
[Page 141]
All these facts concerning the hostages of Romainville have
been related to us by one of the survivors, one of the
hundreds of Frenchmen imprisoned in this fort, Monsieur
Rabate, a mechanic living at 69, Rue de la Ton beIssiore,
Paris, whose testimony was taken by one of our
collaborators.
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(Part 5 of 7)
[M. DUBOST continues]
"Notice. Cowardly criminals in the pay of England and of
Moscow have killed, by shooting in the back, the
Feldkommandant of Nantes on the morning of 20 October
1941. Up to now the assassins have not been arrested.
The conditions under which these reprisals were executed are
worth describing in detail:
"Following our conversation of today, I have the honour
of confirming to you that the Minister of the Interior
has communicated today with General Stulpnagel, in order
to point out to him the most dangerous Communist
prisoners among those who are now held at Chateaubriant.
You will find enclosed herewith the list of 60
individuals who have been handed over this day."
On the following page is the German order
"Because of the assassination of the Feldkommandant of
Nantes, Lt. Col. Hotz on 20 October 1941, the following
Frenchmen, who are already imprisoned as hostages in
accordance with my publication of 22 August 1941, and of
my decree to the legal representative of the French
Government of 19 September 1941, are to be shot."
In the following pages you will find a list, which I shall
not read, of all the men who were shot on that day. I leave
out the reading of the list in order not to lengthen the
proceedings unduly.
"The priest was called at 11.30 to the prison of La
Fayette. An officer, probably of the G.F.P., told him
that he was charged with announcing to certain prisoners
that they were going to be shot. The priest was then
locked up in a room with the 13 hostages who were in the
prison. The other three, who were at Les Rochettes, were
attended by Abbe Theon, professor at the College
Stanislas.
Sixteen were shot in Nantes. Twenty-seven were shot in
Chateaubriant. Five were shot outside the Department. As to
those who were shot in Chateaubriant, we know what their
last moments were like. The Abbe Moyon, who was present,
wrote on 22 October 1941, Page 17 of your document, the
account of this execution. This is the third paragraph, Page
17:
"It was a beautiful autumn day. The temperature was
mild. There had been lovely sunshine since morning.
Everyone in town was going about his usual business.
There was great animation in the town since it was
Wednesday, which was market day. The population knew
from the newspapers, and from the information it had
received from Nantes, that a superior officer had been
killed in a street in Nantes, but they refused to
believe that such savage and extensive reprisals would
be applied.
You will find on Page 19 the "departure for the execution,"
paragraph 4:
"Suddenly there was the sound of car engines. The door,
which I had shut at the beginning so that we might be
more private, opened. A German officer appeared. He was
actually a chaplain. He said to me: 'Monsieur le Cure,
your mission has been accomplished and you must withdraw
immediately.'"
At the bottom of the page, the last paragraph:
"Access to the quarry where the execution took place
being absolutely forbidden to all Frenchmen, I only know
that the condemned were executed in three groups of nine
men, that all the men who were shot refused to have
their eyes bound, that young Mocquet fainted and fell,
and that the last cry that sprang from the lips of all
of them was an ardent 'Vive la France.'"
On Page 21 of the same document you will find the
declaration of Police Officer Roussel. It also is worth
reading:
"22 October 1941, at about 3.30 in the afternoon, I
happened to be in the Rue du 11 Novembre in
Chateaubriant, and I saw coming from
Almost at the same time, in addition to these 48 hostages
who were shot, there were others: those of Bordeaux. You
will find in your document book, under Document 400-F,
documents which have been communicated to us by the
Prefecture of the Gironde, which we submit to the Tribunal
as Exhibit RF 286.
"In the course of the conference which took place last
night at the Feldkommandantur of Bordeaux, the German
authorities asked me to proceed immediately with the
arrest of 100 individuals known for their sympathy with
the Communist Party or the de Gaullist movement, who
will be considered as hostages, and to make a great
number of house searches.
These reprisal measures you will find set forth on Page "A"
of the same document, in a letter addressed by General von
Faber Du Faur, Chief of the Regional Administration of
Bordeaux, to the Prefect of the Gironde. I quote:
"Bordeaux, 23 October 1941.
All of these men were executed.
"As a result of attacks committed by communist agents
and terrorists in the pay of England, German soldiers
and French civilians have been killed or wounded.
In fact, it was only on the day of 20 September that 46 of
these hostages were chosen from the list of 116. The Germans
handed newspapers of 20 September to the prisoners of
Romainville, announcing the decision of the High Military
Command. It was, therefore, through the newspapers, that the
prisoners of Romainville learned that a certain number of
them would be chosen at the end of the afternoon to be led
before the firing squad.