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The Nazi Guillotine

We normally associate the guillotine with the French Revolution and the period known as “The Terror.”  There are different estimates of the total number of victims claimed by “The National Razor” during the French Revolution with anywhere from four thousand up to ten-fold or, forty thousand lives lost to Dr. Joseph Guillotin’s machine. Well, it is likely that Hitler and the Nazis executed more than sixteen thousand using twenty fallbeil or, guillotines scattered around Germany in various prisons. The victims were primarily German citizens—young and old—men, women, and children—some whose only crimes were distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.

Johann Reichhart in his executioner clothing. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Johann Reichhart in his executioner clothing. Photo by anonymous (date unknown).

Did You Know?

“What if?”  What if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated? Would Jim Crow laws ever have existed? What if Martin Luther King, Jr. had not been assassinated? Would he have been our first African-American president? What if Lenin hadn’t died in 1924 and was able to prevent Stalin from taking over? Could the Cold War (and the Great Purge with its murder of 1.2 million Russian citizens) have been prevented? “What if?” scenarios can be applied to just about any historical situation. In this case, it’s about the Nazis coming to power. The German Communist Party (KDP) was a legitimate political party often collaborating with the German socialist party known as the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The KDP was independent from Moscow’s influence but when Stalin was able to control the Communist International (an organization which enveloped the world’s Communist parties), he ordered all local Communist parties to be subordinate to the Communist International and Moscow. Once that was accomplished, Stalin ordered all Communist parties to regard socialist parties as their enemy and to end any collaboration. By 1928, the KDP and the SDP accounted for more than forty percent of the German parliamentary vote. They often formed a working coalition. The National Socialist German Workers Party or, commonly known as the Nazi Party, controlled less than three percent in the late 1920s. After Stalin’s directive, the two parties (KDP and SDP) could not vote together and one of the results was the increase in representation of the Nazi party culminating five years later with Hitler coming to power. So, what if  Stalin had not issued his resolution stating that socialism was “more dangerous than the avowed adherents of predatory imperialism.” Would the KDP and SDP working together have been able to thwart Hitler’s plans and prevent the twelve years of the thousand year Third Reich?


Hitler Comes To Power

The stage was set. After losing World War I and forced to make what even some of the victors considered to be unreasonable reparation payments, Germany suffered through hyperinflation. The Weimar Republic was weak and by the time the consequences of the American stock market crash in October 1929 reached Germany, millions were out of work and banks collapsed. Taking advantage of the lack of cohesive leadership and the general suffering of the voters, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party or, the Nazi Party began to espouse a far right-wing nationalistic position. The Nazis’ platform included a national and cultural renewal. Hitler promised a strong central government, a better economy with jobs, increased Lebensraum (“living space”), a rejection of the terms of the Versailles Treaty, and the collapse of the unpopular Weimar Republic. They also made no attempt to hide their plans for the treatment of Jews and people of “inferior” races (i.e., anyone other than those of the Germanic or Aryan race). In other words, the Nazis were about to serve up a policy of racial cleansing. Read More The Nazi Guillotine

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La Chatte

I previously introduced you to some of the brave women who served as foreign agents for the British led Special Operations Executive (SOE).(Click here to read Women Agents of the SOE and click here to read The White Mouse). Today, you’ll meet another female agent of the SOE. Only this time, you’ll see that her exploits don’t quite measure up to the other agents. In fact, you could probably say she was a triple agent and her betrayals shut down the first SOE network in France and cost the lives of many people. The nom de guerre (codename) for SOE agent Mathilde Carré was VICTOIRE. However, she acquired the nickname, La Chatte (The Cat) because some said she walked as quiet as a cat while others said it was her habit of curling up in large armchairs and scratching the arms with her long sharp nails. Mathilde liked her nickname so well that all of her messages to London were signed “La Chatte.”


Did You Know?

We will soon lose the last eyewitnesses to the tragic events of World War II. The soldiers, sailors, men and women who served in the Army Air Corp., Marines, doctors, nurses, and all who supported them will be gone shortly. Survivors of the Nazis’ atrocities, such as Gena Turgel (the “Bride of Belsen” read her story here) and Elie Wiesel, are gone (read about Elie here). The last surviving member of the French Resistance and Companion of the Liberation will soon pass away and be buried with sixteen other combatants, résistants, and deportees in the crypt of the Mémorial de la France combattante at Fort Mont-Valérien in the western suburbs of Paris.

Fortunately, the world has access to written, verbal, and film which document the war and its atrocities. The amount of material available is unprecedented. The Library of Congress began a program called “Veterans History Project” (learn more here)  to provide World War II veterans the opportunity to record their individual stories in writing as well as verbal accounts (hear Violet Gordon’s story here). The number of books written by military participants, former resistance members, and other survivors documenting their first-hand experiences are plentiful. As former classified documents become available, professional historians are able to update and fill-in the history that perhaps wasn’t complete when the first round of books was written between the end of the war and the 1960s. Thousands of images, both still and moving, are available as the U.S. Government provided men and women the opportunity to capture the war in real time.

Today, there are many memorials across Europe honoring the men and women who fought the Nazis and other fascist regimes. One example is the preservation of Fort Mont-Valérien. Today, it stands as a memorial to those who were executed in the hollow depression on its grounds. Another memorial is the privately funded center located on the site of the former Drancy Deportation Center. Elementary school students and others can view and learn the story of Nazi crimes. The director was ten-years-old during the Occupation and he volunteers for the same reason Mont-Valérien’s young director has dedicated his career: to make sure people don’t forget. Then there are the camp survivors such as Gena Turgel who passed away on 7 June 2018 at the age of ninety-five. Most of the survivors dedicated their lives to telling their stories so others would become aware of the horrors and brutality perpetrated by the Nazis. Their primary goal was to ensure people don’t forget. The many Holocaust memorials around the world serve the purpose of reminding us of the Jewish victims who represented approximately ten percent of the war’s total casualties (it is estimated that more than sixty million perished during World War II).

The Holocaust memorials are there to tell us to forgive but never forget. It’s also an opportunity for us to remember the approximately five million others who perished in the death camps alongside the Jews.


Let’s Meet Mathilde Carré

Mathilde Carré (1908−1970) was born in the small town of Le Creusot, a commune (i.e., an administrative division similar to our incorporated municipalities) in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne—eastern France. Her family was middle class and she was able to attend Sorbonne University, graduating with a teaching degree. In love with a fellow named Marc, Mathilde knew he couldn’t provide the lifestyle she was accustomed to. So, while sitting on the top step of the grand staircase of the Palais de Justice, Mathilde flipped a coin between Marc (“heads”) and another school teacher, Maurice Carré (“tails”). Tails it was and Mathilde and Maurice were married in 1933 but lived apart until they moved to North Africa. By 1939 the marriage had disintegrated and the couple divorced in 1940. The declassified British MI5 file on Mathilde indicates her treatment towards Maurice was indicative of her personality defects which came into play later on during her espionage activities—one of which was operating with unbounded carelessness.

Mathilde Carré in London. Photo by anonymous (c. 1942).
Mathilde Carré in London. Photo by anonymous (c. 1942).

For those of you who have had a cat as a pet (over the years, we’ve had many) know that cats play by their own rules. They are independent and do as they please. A cat is loyal only to themselves and no one else. A cat comes and goes, returning when they want to. Perhaps this should be the real reason why Mathilde Carré was appropriately given the nickname “The Cat.”

Mathilde was in her early 30s and described as attractive but not beautiful. Her face was pale with thin lips and animated green eyes. Mathilde was described as extremely intelligent but very high strung. She always wore a black fur coat, a red hat, and small flat red shoes. Just what every spy should be—conspicuous. Mathilde’s nails were long and sharp, like a cat. Fortunately for her, this cat had many lives. Read More La Chatte