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The Butcher of Lyon

Lyon became a hotbed of French resistance activity during World War II. So, when the Germans invaded the occupied zone (i.e., “free zone,” or zone libre) in November 1942, it was no wonder Himmler sent SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Klaus Barbie to Lyon with orders to eliminate the French Resistance. Barbie excelled at carrying out his orders and enjoyed using barbaric and sadistic methods of torture. But unlike many other Gestapo interrogators who used others to do their dirty work, Barbie personally participated in torturing men, women, and even children.  Klaus Barbie’s brutality earned him the infamous moniker, “The Butcher of Lyon.”

Klaus Barbie in his SS uniform. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Klaus Barbie in his SS uniform. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Click here to watch the video Crimes of the Nazi “Butcher of Lyon”.


“Ill-understood history could, if care were not taken, drag better-understood history down into discredit in its wake.”

⏤ Marc Bloch (1886−1944)

      French historian and résistant

      Executed by the Nazis

Marc Bloch. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944). PD-Franc; author died more than 70 years ago. Wikimedia Commons.
Marc Bloch. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944). PD-Franc; author died more than 70 years ago. Wikimedia Commons.

Did You Know?

Did you know that I normally try and have a blog or at the very least, a comment on a topic that fits with Halloween? In past years, we’ve posted The Ghost Army (click here to read) and The Night Witches (click here to read), to name several blogs published on or just before Halloween. Although we are a couple of days past Halloween, I wanted to try and continue the tradition. So, did you know about “The Witches of Bucha”? Yep, that’s what this all-female volunteer air defense unit calls itself. They are Ukrainian women devoted to protecting the skies of Ukraine from Russian missile strikes and drone attacks.

The women work normal jobs during the day and at night, they report for their military shifts. With their hand-held machine-guns (from 1939) as well as truck mounted guns, the women fight from the front lines and go into action when the air alert is sounded. Almost every night the Russian drones loaded with explosives appear in the sky. If the drones are determined to be of imminent danger for the city of Bucha, the machine guns are ready to shoot them down.

Bucha’s air defense was once comprised of men but as the war has progressed, they were needed at the front. There were very few options for replacing these men and initially, there was not much trust in using women as replacements. However, that has completely changed as the “Witches” have proven themselves time and time again. The women take great pride in learning to defend themselves, their family, and Ukraine. One woman said, “I won’t ever sit like a victim again and be so very afraid.”

Since we are on the topic of witches, did you know the last surviving Soviet “Night Witch” died several months ago? Galina Brok-Beltsova (1925−2024) was a navigator who flew 36 missions during World War II as one of the all-women volunteer combat unit known as “The Night Witches.” I refer you to the October 2021 blog for the complete story of the Soviet night witches (see above for the link). The link to Galina’s obituary is listed below in the recommended reading section.

Galina Brok-Beltsova soon after she volunteered for combat duty with the Soviet army during World War II. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). The Times, 16 October 2024. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/galina-brok-beltsova-obituary-last-survivor-of-the-soviet-night-witches-9jnm1db8t
Galina Brok-Beltsova soon after she volunteered for combat duty with the Soviet army during World War II. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). The Times, 16 October 2024.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/galina-brok-beltsova-obituary-last-survivor-of-the-soviet-night-witches-9jnm1db8t

Lyon and Vichy France 

The city of Lyon can trace its existence to the Roman Empire in 43 B.C. (The city’s Roman name was Lugdunum.) It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, about 243 miles southeast of Paris. The city population is more than a half million with the metropolitan area home to about 2.3 million people. Lyon is the second largest French city and is well-known for its tradition of culinary and gastronomical cuisine. (It was once the capital of the silk industry.) However, our story today revolves around the city’s role during its occupation between 19 June 1940 (five days after the Germans marched into Paris) and 3 September 1944 (Lyon’s liberation day).

As part of the 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany, about one-third of France was designated as the unoccupied zone, or free zone while the remainder was occupied by the German military. The new French government, “Vichy France” (Régime de Vichy) took up residence in the small town of Vichy and began its collaboration with the Germans.

Map of occupied France during World War II. Illustration by Eric Gaba (blank map) and Rama (zones) (c. 2008). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2 or later. Wikimedia Commons.
Map of occupied France during World War II. Illustration by Eric Gaba (blank map) and Rama (zones) (c. 2008). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2 or later. Wikimedia Commons.

On 8 November 1942, British and American troops landed in North Africa as part of “Operation Torch.” In retaliation, Hitler’s “Operation Anton” began with the German Wehrmacht forces entering the free zone three days later. At this point, France was completely occupied, and Vichy France was exposed for what it was: a false government. For the preceding two years, the free zone had been spared many of the Nazi atrocities that were committed in the occupied zone. However, after November 1942, the Germans imported their brutal methods to suppress the citizens and in particular, résistants and Jews. Nowhere was this felt more than in Lyon.

Lyon Gestapo

Almost immediately, Gestapo leaders in Paris sent six Einsatzkommandos into the former free zone and established six regional “branches” in the cities of Lyon, Limoges, Marseilles, Montpellier, Toulouse, and Vichy. Each became the hub and regional headquarters for the Gestapo and the S.D., or Sicherheitsdienst (the intelligence arm of the Nazi party). SS-Untersturmführer Klaus Barbie was appointed as the Lyon chief of Amt IV, the Gestapo section responsible for searching out and the repression of Third Reich opponents. For Klaus Barbie, this meant his responsibilities were two-fold: the destruction of French Resistance forces using any methods he deemed necessary and secondly, hunt down and deport Jews to KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

Barbie’s first headquarters in Lyon was in the Hotel Terminus (November 1942 to June 1943). He moved his offices in June to 14, ave. Berthelot. The massive building, built in 1894, was once the French army’s medical school (École de santé militaire) and during World War I, it was used as a hospital. Originally, the Germans occupied the Larrey and Percy wings of the building but in February 1943, the French medical students were evicted, and the entire building was occupied by German units, including Amt IV. (The basement of the Larrey wing was converted to cells and execution chambers.) The building was severely damaged by Allied bombs on 26 May 1944. For the third time, Barbie relocated his men to 33, place Bellecour and remained there before fleeing to Germany in August 1944.

Hôtel Terminus, site of the first headquarters for Lyon Gestapo. Original photo by anonymous (c. 1940). Posted by Niko fr. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Hôtel Terminus, site of the first headquarters for Lyon Gestapo. Original photo by anonymous (c. 1940). Posted by Niko fr. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Former Hôtel Terminus. Today it is the “Grand Hôtel Mercure Château Perrache. Photo by Sebleouf (7 September 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Former Hôtel Terminus. Today it is the “Grand Hôtel Mercure Château Perrache. Photo by Sebleouf (7 September 2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Exterior of the former Lyon Gestapo headquarters at 14, ave. Berthelot, the former medical school for the French army. The entrance to the resistance museum can be seen on the right. Photo by Sandy Ross (14 September 2024).
Exterior of the former Lyon Gestapo headquarters at 14, ave. Berthelot, the former medical school for the French army. The entrance to the resistance museum can be seen on the right. Photo by Sandy Ross (14 September 2024).
Memorial plaque on the exterior wall of the former Lyon Gestapo headquarters at 14, ave. Berthelot. “Tribute to the thousands of Jews from the Rhône tortured and executed, deported and exterminated in 1942, 1943 and 1944. May the places of their martyrdom remain grave in our memory: May those who, at the risk of their lives, tried to help them, be forever thanked.” Photo by Sandy Ross (14 September 2024).
Memorial plaque on the exterior wall of the former Lyon Gestapo headquarters at 14, ave. Berthelot. “Tribute to the thousands of Jews from the Rhône tortured and executed, deported and exterminated in 1942, 1943 and 1944. May the places of their martyrdom remain grave in our memory: May those who, at the risk of their lives, tried to help them, be forever thanked.” Photo by Sandy Ross (14 September 2024).
Exterior view of former Gestapo headquarters (May 1944 to August 1944) located at 33, place Bellecour, Lyon. Google Maps.
Exterior view of former Gestapo headquarters (May 1944 to August 1944) located at 33, place Bellecour, Lyon. Google Maps.

Nikolaus ‘Klaus” Barbie

Nikolaus ‘Klaus’ Barbie (1913−1991) was born in what is today part of Bonn, Germany. Abused by his father, the young Barbie was sent to a boarding school where he was considered a below average student. In 1933, the year Hitler took power, his father and younger brother died. Barbie was unemployed and went to work in the Reich Labor Service, a paramilitary organization established to fight unemployment and indoctrinate its members in Nazi ideology. Two years later, Barbie joined the Schutzstaffel, or SS and was assigned to the S.D., the party’s intelligence gathering service. In 1937, Barbie officially joined the Nazi Party.

Klaus Barbie. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Archives du department du Rhǒne et de la métropole de Lyon. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Klaus Barbie. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Archives du department du Rhǒne et de la métropole de Lyon. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Barbie began his career in Berlin where he developed his skills as an interrogator and investigator. His first major assignment was with Adolf Eichmann’s Amt IV-B4 in Amsterdam. (click here to read the blog, The Argentina Papers) The Gestapo section’s responsibilities were identification, roundup, and deportation of Dutch Jews, Freemasons, and Communists. SS-Untersturmführer Barbie was so efficient and brutal that he was awarded the Iron Cross. By the end of May 1942, Barbie had been promoted to Obersturmführer and assigned as an investigator to a Gestapo branch on the border of France and Switzerland. Five months later, it was a short trip to Lyon to take up his new assignment as head of Lyon’s Gestapo.

Lyon Resistance

After the war, Gen. Charles de Gaulle declared Lyon to be France’s “Capital of Resistance.” As an aside, five cities were awarded the Ordre de la liberation, or the Order of Liberation, an honor bestowed on the “heroes of the French liberation.” Lyon was not one of the five cities. I wonder why Lyon wasn’t honored considering Gen. de Gaulle’s proclamation. Anyway, just a thought.

Barbie was faced with hunting down two primary resistance foes. The first was the Maquis, or guerilla fighters. These were men and women who hid in the forests and hit the enemy in spontaneous raids and sabotage. They were people evading the Service du travail obligatoire, a joint French-German edict forcing French citizens to enlist as laborers in Germany.

Barbie’s second resistance target were the multiple groups operating in the former free zone. Many of these networks had their headquarters in Lyon but were never united. That is, until Gen. de Gaulle sent Jean Moulin (1899−1943) in March 1943 to unify the major resistance networks under an umbrella organization called the Conseil national de la Résistance, or “National Resistance Council.” Moulin had earlier formed the Armée secrete, led by Charles Delestraint (1879−1945), but Gen. Delestraint was arrested on 9 June 1943 (he was executed at KZ Dachau days before its liberation). Faced with having to replace Delestraint, Moulin set up a meeting of resistance leaders at a house in the suburbs of Lyon. Betrayed by an insider, Moulin and the others (including Raymond Aubrac) were arrested by Barbie’s men and sent to Fort Montluc Prison in Lyon. Moulin was severely tortured by Barbie to the point where eyewitnesses later said they could not recognize him. Moulin reportedly died in early July on a train taking him to Berlin.

Jean Moulin near the Promenade du Peyrou in Montpellier, France. Photo by Marcel Bernard (c. 1940). Musée de la liberation de Paris and the musée Jean-Moulin. Christine Levisse-Touzé. “Jean Moulin,” L’Histoire Par l’Image, January 2015. https://histoire-image.org/etudes/jean-moulin
Jean Moulin near the Promenade du Peyrou in Montpellier, France. Photo by Marcel Bernard (c. 1940). Musée de la liberation de Paris and the musée Jean-Moulin. Christine Levisse-Touzé. “Jean Moulin,” L’Histoire Par l’Image, January 2015.
https://histoire-image.org/etudes/jean-moulin

Montluc Prison was used by the Gestapo as a place for internment, interrogation, torture, and executions ⏤ similar to Fresnes Prison in Paris. More than 15,000 people were held in the prison with about 900 executed within its walls. As liberating forces were headed for Lyon in August 1944, Barbie authorized two massacres of Montluc prisoners. The action, Le Charnier de Bron, or “The Charnel House of Bron,” saw 109 prisoners taken to the Bron Airfield and murdered. Days later, about 120 prisoners were driven to Fort de Cǒte-Lorette and shot. Notable Montluc prisoners include Jean Moulin (cell #130), Marc Bloch, Raymond Aubrac and finally about 40-years later, Klaus Barbie (cell #136). The prison was closed in 1997 and today is designated as a monument historique.

Row of cells in Montluc Prison. Photo by anonymous (c. April 2013). France info: Culture, France Télévisions. https://www.francetvinfor.fr/culture/patrimoine/traces-d-histoire-dans-les-cellules-de-la-prison-montluc-a-lyon_3307611.html
Row of cells in Montluc Prison. Photo by anonymous (c. April 2013). France info: Culture, France Télévisions. https://www.francetvinfor.fr/culture/patrimoine/traces-d-histoire-dans-les-cellules-de-la-prison-montluc-a-lyon_3307611.html
The wall within Montluc Prison where executions took place. Photo by Romainbehar (16 September 2018). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
The wall within Montluc Prison where executions took place. Photo by Romainbehar (16 September 2018). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.

Click here to watch the video Klaus Barbie.

Torture and Deportations 

The majority of Barbie’s interrogations and resultant torture of men, women, and children took place in the building on Berthelot Avenue. In addition to “normal” torture methods (e.g., waterboarding, beatings, electroshock, burning with cigarettes, etc.), Barbie tortured his victims with immersing their heads in buckets of ammonia, tore off his victim’s skin, shoved nails under their fingernails, forcibly removed finger and toenails using pliers, broke knuckles and hand bones by placing hands in door frames and slamming the door shut.  Whenever women were interrogated, they were ordered to disrobe. Barbie always had two German shepherds nearby. One was trained to bite and eat the victim’s flesh. The other was trained to mount and rape the naked woman. A common torture method was for the victim to be hung up by handcuffs with spikes inside them and then beaten by Barbie with a rubber bar.

Survivor testimonies from Barbie’s trial included Lise Lesevre (1901−1992) who told about Barbie torturing her for nine days. Barbie savagely beat Lesevre, nearly drowned her in a tub of water, and used a spiked ball to break her vertebrae. Ennat Léger (1895−1993) talked about Barbie breaking her teeth while Simone Lagrange (1930−2016) described Barbie giving her a “smile as thin as a knife blade,” then proceeded to severely beat her in the face. Simone was thirteen at the time. Lesevre testified that Barbie purposely paraded tortured people by the cells and if Barbie believed the victim was Jewish, he would crush their skull with the heel of his boot.

Former resistance member, Lise Lesevre, arriving at the Barbie trial in Lyon to testify against Klaus Barbie. Photo by anonymous (12 May 1987). AFP Correspondent. https://correspondent.afp.com/trial-butcher-lyon
Former resistance member, Lise Lesevre, arriving at the Barbie trial in Lyon to testify against Klaus Barbie. Photo by anonymous (12 May 1987). AFP Correspondent. https://correspondent.afp.com/trial-butcher-lyon

Historians estimate that Barbie was directly responsible for the deportation of 14,000 Jews and resistance fighters. (In total, about 75,000 Jewish men, women, and children were deported from France.) Simone Lagrange was deported along with her mother and father to KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Her mother was immediately sent to the gas chamber. Simone and 25,000 other inmates were eventually marched to KZ Ravensbrück (only 2,000 survived) and along the way, she saw her father in another convoy of prisoners. A German officer told her to go and embrace her father. As she approached, her father was shot in front of her. Simone would later say, “It wasn’t Barbie who pulled the trigger, but it was him who sent us there.”

The Children of Izieu 

On 6 April 1944 at 9:00 am under the orders of Barbie, three vehicles pulled up in front of Maison d’Izieu, a children’s home near Lyon that provided refuge for dozens of Jewish children whose parents had been arrested and deported. A squad of a dozen soldiers with their officers and members of the Milice were there to arrest the children. (The Milice was a Vichy paramilitary organization that worked with the Germans to arrest resistance fighters and deport Jews.) Miron and Sabine Zlatin ran the home while Léon Reifman, a medical student, took care of the sick children while his sister, Sarah, was the home’s regular doctor and his parents lived at the home. The forty-four children, ranging in age from three to fourteen, along with seven adults were loaded into two trucks and taken to Montluc Prison and the next day, to Drancy, an internment camp outside Paris. On 13 April 1944, the children and adults were put on the next train (Convoy #71) leaving for KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Only one adult, Léa Feldblum (1918−1989), survived and in 1987, she testified against Klaus Barbie at his trial in Lyon.

Distributing the mail at the children’s home in Izieu. Léon Reifman is in the center handing out the mail. Far left is Miron Zlatin who was executed by the Nazis. Other than Reifman and two others in this photo, everyone pictured here was murdered. Photo by anonymous (c. summer 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/1.
Distributing the mail at the children’s home in Izieu. Léon Reifman is in the center handing out the mail. Far left is Miron Zlatin who was executed by the Nazis. Other than Reifman and two others in this photo, everyone pictured here was murdered. Photo by anonymous (c. summer 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/1.
The exterior of the Izieu children’s home. Photographed after the war. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/28.
The exterior of the Izieu children’s home. Photographed after the war. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/28.
7 April 1944 announcement by Klaus Barbie to his superiors of the arrest of Izieu’s children. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Maison de la conference de Wannsee.
7 April 1944 announcement by Klaus Barbie to his superiors of the arrest of Izieu’s children. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Maison de la conference de Wannsee.
Left to right: Majer-Marcel Bulka, his brother, Albert, and his friend, Alek Bergman. The Bulka brothers were murdered at KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Alek left the home before the Gestapo raid and survived. Photo by anonymous (c. Summer 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/14.
Left to right: Majer-Marcel Bulka, his brother, Albert, and his friend, Alek Bergman. The Bulka brothers were murdered at KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Alek left the home before the Gestapo raid and survived. Photo by anonymous (c. Summer 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/14.
Léa Feldblum, a teacher at the Izieu children’s home. Her parents, brother, and sister were murdered at KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Léa survived the war and settled in Israel. Photo by anonymous (c. 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/10.
Léa Feldblum, a teacher at the Izieu children’s home. Her parents, brother, and sister were murdered at KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Léa survived the war and settled in Israel. Photo by anonymous (c. 1943). Yad Vashem Photo Archives, 1408/10.
Contemporary aerial view of Maison d’Izieu. Today, the building is a museum dedicated to the children. Photo by Benoît Prieur (178 September 2019). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
Contemporary aerial view of Maison d’Izieu. Today, the building is a museum dedicated to the children. Photo by Benoît Prieur (178 September 2019). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
Memorial plaque placed on the exterior wall of the Maison d’Izieu. It memorializes the victims who were deported to KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The children range in age from 5 to 18. Six adults are reflected but only five died at the extermination camp. Miron Zlatin was executed separately by the Nazis. Photo by Benoît Prieur (17 September 2019). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
Memorial plaque placed on the exterior wall of the Maison d’Izieu. It memorializes the victims who were deported to KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The children range in age from 5 to 18. Six adults are reflected but only five died at the extermination camp. Miron Zlatin was executed separately by the Nazis. Photo by Benoît Prieur (17 September 2019). PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.

Post-War

Barbie returned to Germany in 1944. Three years later, France tried and convicted him in absentia with the former Gestapo leader sentenced to death. (A French military tribunal passed the same judgement on Barbie in 1954.) During the post-war years up until 1983, Barbie was protected by various governments.

It is well-known that the United States and the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) used former Nazis as agents in the post-war struggle against the Soviet Union. Barbie was one of those agents, having been recruited in 1947 for his skills in gathering intelligence. He was used to improve America interrogation methods, identify other former SS officers that could be recruited as agents, and spy on France. (U.S. intelligence believed the French occupation zone had been infiltrated by the KGB.) The French eventually discovered that Barbie was under the protection of the U.S. government, and they petitioned John J. McCloy, High Commissioner for Germany, to turn over Barbie. He refused (click here to read the blog, The Wise Men).

At this point, the CIC assisted the relocation of Barbie to Bolivia where he was once again protected by a friendly government (click here to read the blog, ODESSA: Myth or Truth?). Assuming the name “Klaus Altmann,” Barbie settled in Cochabamba as a businessman. He also worked for Bolivia’s secret police supporting the country’s military regimes through arms-trading operations, murders, torture, interrogations, and drug trafficking. (Barbie worked with Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel.) In 1957, Barbie became a Bolivian citizen.

In 1971, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld identified Barbie as Klaus Altmann and the fact he was living in Bolivia. The Bolivian government refused to extradite Barbie, but the Klarsfelds never gave up. They ensured the Butcher of Lyon’s story stayed in front of the public and finally, in 1983, a democratic government was elected in Bolivia and they agreed to extradite Barbie to France where he would stand trial.

Serge and Beate Klarsfeld. Photo by personal photographer (c. 2007). PD-CCA 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.
Serge and Beate Klarsfeld. Photo by personal photographer (c. 2007). PD-CCA 3.0 Unported License. Wikimedia Commons.

In the meantime, Allan Ryan, Director of the Office of Special Investigations issued a full report (refer below to the recommended reading section) on the U.S. government’s involvement with Barbie. The report’s conclusions resulted in a formal apology from the United States to France for enabling Klaus Barbie to escape French justice for 33 years.

Click here to watch the video Tracking Down Klaus Barbie – “Butcher of Lyon” and here to watch The Butcher of Lyon.

The Barbie Trial 

In 1984, Barbie was indicted and tried on forty-one separate counts of crimes against humanity committed as head of the Lyon Gestapo. His trial began in 1987 in Lyon and the proceedings were filmed. (The film can be viewed at the former Lyon Gestapo headquarters, now the Resistance and Deportation History Center ⏤ the testimony of the survivors is quite graphic.)

Klaus Barbie at the start of his trial. Photo by anonymous (11 May 1987). AFP Correspondent. https://correspondent.afp.com/trial-butcher-lyon
Klaus Barbie at the start of his trial. Photo by anonymous (11 May 1987). AFP Correspondent. https://correspondent.afp.com/trial-butcher-lyon
The courtroom where Klaus Barbie was tried. Photo by anonymous (c. 1987). B’nai B’Brith Klutznick Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nikolaus-klaus-barbie-the-butcher-of-lyon
The courtroom where Klaus Barbie was tried. Photo by anonymous (c. 1987). B’nai B’Brith Klutznick Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nikolaus-klaus-barbie-the-butcher-of-lyon

Barbie’s team of defense attorneys was led by Jacques Vergès (1925−2013), a Vietnamese French anti-colonial activist. His defense strategy included diversionary tactics such as trying to put France on trial by comparing its actions (e.g., torture) in the Algeria conflict and other colonial crimes to the crimes Barbie was charged with. Barbie argued he was a Bolivian citizen and that his extradition was illegal.

Trial illustration of Jacques Vergès (left) and Klaus Barbie (right). Illustration by Calvi (c. May 1987). Agence France-Presse. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Trial illustration of Jacques Vergès (left) and Klaus Barbie (right). Illustration by Calvi (c. May 1987). Agence France-Presse. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

Klaus Barbie was the first and only former Nazi to be put on trial in France for crimes against humanity. It was decided that he could not be tried for war crimes as this had a statute of limitations under French law whereas crimes against humanity did not. Barbie’s orders to arrest and deport the children of Izieu played a critical role in having him tried (and convicted) for crimes against humanity. On 4 July 1987, Barbie was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment (France by then had eliminated the death penalty). Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon” died of cancer in prison four years after his conviction.

One of our tour guides on our river cruise to Lyon told us she attended Barbie’s trial for three days and did not go back. I asked her why she didn’t return. (It was very difficult to get tickets to the public gallery.) Francis told us that the testimonies of the eyewitnesses and their stories were so horrible that she couldn’t sit through another day of listening to the atrocities committed by Barbie.

Click here to watch video of the Klaus Barbie trial news coverage.

Next Blog:       “The Colmar Pocket”


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★ Read and Learn More About Today’s Topic ★

Bower, Tom. Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyons. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.

Chabrol, Claude (director) and Jean-Pierre Ramsay Levi (producer). The Eye of Vichy. Fit Production, Institut national de l’audiovisuel, TFI Films Production, et. al., 1993.

Delarue, Jacques. The Gestapo: A History of Horror. S. Yorkshire: Frontline Books, 2008 (originally published 1962).

Doré-Rivé, Isabelle (Editor and curator). Translation by John Doherty. War in a City: Lyon, 1939−1945. Lyon: Éditions Fage, 2013.

Goñi, Uki. The Real Odessa: How Perón Brought the Nazi War Criminals to Argentina. London: Granta Books, 2003.

Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940−1944. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Klarsfeld, Serge. Translated by Glorianne Depondt and Howard M. Epstein. French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial. New York: New York University Press, 1996.

Klarsfeld, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld. Translated by Sam Taylor. Hunting the Truth: Memoirs of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.

Lanzmann, Claude (director & producer). Shoah. Les Films Aleph and Historia Film, 1985.

Ophuls, Marcel (director & producer). Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie. Icarus Films, 1988.

Ophuls, Marcel (director). The Sorrow and the Pity: Chronicle of a French City Under the Occupation. Milestone, 1969.

Paxton, Robert O. Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940−1944. New York: Knopf Publishing, 1972.

Robbins, Christopher. A Test of Courage: Michel Thomas. London: Century, 1999.

Ryan, Allan A. Jr. Klaus Barbie and the United States Government: A Report to the Attorney General. U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, August 1983.

Galina Brok-Beltsova Obituary. The Times, 16 October 2024. Click here to read.

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Sandy and I visited Lyon as part of our river cruise through the south of France. I hired a private guide for a three-hour walking tour of the city with a focus on resistance activities. Unfortunately, he never showed up. The unoccupied zone is a topic I have not focused on except for the escape lines, the Milice, and Maquis resistance fighters. So, Lyon is a city that I have much to learn about. Writing this blog gives me the opportunity to learn more about its role in the war.

We did sign up for an afternoon excursion on one of the days that concentrated on the Colmar Pocket. Our guide was an exceptional expert on this subject (and very passionate about her subject). I am very fortunate to have met Angie, a World War I and II licensed tour guide. As my discussions with her progress, I will learn more about where and what she enjoys sharing with her clients. Stay tuned.

Thank you to all of you who subscribe to our bi-weekly blogs. It seems there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t increase our readership. Please let your history buff friends and family members know about our blog site and blogs.

Someone Is Commenting On Our Blogs

Thanks to Tim P. for contacting us regarding Virginia Hall. Tim wanted to know if I had any connections to private guides in the cities where Virginia had her resistance operations. Unfortunately, I don’t have those connections at this time. I will be following up with Raphaëlle and Angie to see if they can refer someone.

Dave B. reached out to us regarding the Ritchie Boys and his father. Gerald was Jewish and managed to escape Nazi Germany with his family in the late 1930s. After “bouncing” around Europe, he settled in New York. Gerald was drafted in 1942 and in time, became one of the Ritchie Boys. Click here to read the blog, The Ritchie Boys. Interestingly, Gerald and his family ended up in Camp King in 1961 where Dave had some interesting experiences. Click here to read the blog, Camp King. Thanks, Dave, for sharing this with us.

If there is a topic you’d like to see a blog written about, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I love hearing from you so keep those comments coming.

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Avenue Boche

At about 6:00 a.m. on 14 June 1940, the German army marched into Paris. Two hours later, Wehrmacht headquarters were established in the Hôtel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde. At 9:45 a.m., the Nazi swastika flag was hanging over the tomb of the unknown soldier from the center of the Arc de Triomphe. Eight hours later, officers and soldiers had taken over the buildings where they would live, work, and relax for the next four years. It was clear that before they arrived, senior officers knew exactly which buildings were going to be appropriated for the German occupation forces.

Wehrmacht troops marching on the Champs Elysée. Photo by anonymous (c. 1940). Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-036-09A/CC-BY-SA. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
Wehrmacht troops marching on the Champs Elysée. Photo by anonymous (c. 1940). Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-036-09A/CC-BY-SA. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most opulent and upscale Paris neighborhoods was centered along avenue Foch in the 16th arrondissiment. (During the Belle Epoque period, the street was named avenue Bois.) Mansions owned by French millionaires, industrialists, celebrities, and bankers lined the grand avenue. That is, until 14 June when the Gestapo began to take over the mansions. Over time, the French came to refer the street as “Avenue Boche.” (Boche was a derogatory term used to describe the German occupiers.)


Did You Know?

Did you know that the last surviving member of an elite French commando unit passed away on 3 July 2023?

Léon Gautier (1922−2023) was a soldier in the 1er bataillon de fusiliers marins commandos, or commonly known as the “Kieffer Commandos” aptly named for its commander, Philipp Kieffer (1899−1962). There were 177 Kieffer commandos who landed on Sword Beach early on the morning of 6 June 1944. Their initial target was a heavily fortified bunker but standing between them and the bunker was a wide-open beach. After hitting the sand, it took the men four hours of heavy fighting, cutting through barbed wire, and withstanding a hailstorm of bullets, to take their objective. The men spent seventy-eight straight days in combat and half of them were killed. Only two dozen men escaped death or injury ⏤ Léon Gautier was among the lucky ones.

Léon Gautier during World War II.
Léon Gautier during World War II. Photo by anonymous (c. 1942). AFP/Getty Images.

The fighting unit exists today as part of the Naval Commandos of the French navy. The green beret and bronze shield badge are worn proudly seventy-nine years after the unit received its official designation in March 1944.

Léon Gautier proudly wearing the green beret with bronze shield of the Kieffer Commandos.
Léon Gautier proudly wearing the green beret with bronze shield of the Kieffer Commandos. Photo by François Gondrée (31 May 2014).

M.Gautier’s great-great-grandson was born on 6 June 2017, the 73rd anniversary of D-Day.

Accompanied by Emmanuel Macron , Léon Gautier attends the D-Day ceremony at Colleville-Montgomery.
Accompanied by Emmanuel Macron (standing behind Gautier), Léon Gautier attends the D-Day ceremony at Colleville-Montgomery. Photo by Stephane Lemouton (6 June 2023). Lemouton Stephane/Abaca/Shutterstock.

The American Hospital of Paris  

As it became apparent the Germans would enter Paris unopposed, Dr. Thierry de Martel (1876−1940), chief surgeon at the American Hospital told his friend and U.S. ambassador to France, William Bullitt (click here to read the blog, The American Mayor of Paris) that he would never leave the city. Dr. de Martel was antisemitic and anti-German. His son died in the first world war and the father had an intense hatred for Germans. He could not bear to think about swastika flags flying from buildings in his beloved city. He saw only one option available to him. On the morning of 14 June, Dr. de Martel sat down on his living room couch and injected himself with a lethal dose of strychnine.

Dr. Thierry de Martel.
Dr. Thierry de Martel. Photo by anonymous (c. 1920). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
William C. Bullitt, U.S. envoy to France, leaving the White House after a meeting with President Roosevelt.
William C. Bullitt, U.S. envoy to France, leaving the White House after a meeting with President Roosevelt. Photo by Harris & Ewing (c. 1939). Library of Congress. PD-No known restrictions. Wikimedia Commons.

The American Hospital was founded in 1906 in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine and it is the only civilian hospital in Europe that does not receive government subsidies from France or the United States. It is a nonprofit organization and relies solely on donations. The hospital was inaugurated with 24-beds and today its capacity is 187 beds. Within five years, the hospital became one of the primary care centers for the wounded men in World War I reaching a capacity of 2,000 beds at its peak. In 1914, the American Hospital’s famous motor-ambulance corps was established (click here to read the blog, The Rochambelles). Notable patients of the hospital over the decades include Gertrude Stein (died), Rock Hudson (treated for AIDs), Ernest Hemingway (head wound and removal of his appendix), Aristotle Onassis (died), Sara Delano Roosevelt (treated for pneumonia), and the actor, Bette Davis (died).

The American Hospital of Paris. Photo by anonymous (c. 1908). Library of Congress. National Photo Company Collection. PD-No known restrictions. Wikimedia Commons.
The American Hospital of Paris. Photo by anonymous (c. 1908). Library of Congress. National Photo Company Collection. PD-No known restrictions. Wikimedia Commons.
Entrance to the American Hospital of Paris. Photo by anonymous (c. 1930).
Entrance to the American Hospital of Paris. Photo by anonymous (c. 1930). https://erenow.net/ww/americans-in-paris-life-and-death-under-nazi-occupation-1940-1944/18.php

After Dr. de Martel committed suicide, Dr. Sumner W. Jackson replaced him as the hospital’s chief surgeon (and leader). The Germans allowed the hospital to treat wounded Allied POWs as it saved them an immense cost. Dr. Edmond Gros suffered an emotional and physical breakdown and resigned his position on the hospital’s board of governors. He was replaced by Aldebert de Chambrun (1872−1962), who became a collaborationist with the Germans during their four years of occupation.

Dr. Edmund Gros. Lt. Col. Gros suggested the name “Lafayette Escadrille” for the American aviation unit fighting in France.
Dr. Edmund Gros. Lt. Col. Gros suggested the name “Lafayette Escadrille” for the American aviation unit fighting in France. Photo by anonymous (c. 1918). PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Dr. Sumner Jackson, Dr. Thierry de Martel, Dr. Edmund Gros, and Toquette Jackson.
Dr. Sumner Jackson (center), Dr. Thierry de Martel (in profile just in front of Dr. Jackson), Dr. Edmund Gros (fourth from left), and Toquette Jackson (third nurse from right). Photo by anonymous (c. 1940). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

After the German occupation of Paris and France, Dr. Jackson used his position to begin undercover resistance activities to shelter, provide false documents, and move Allied soldiers across the border to Spain. It worked well until four years later when the Gestapo caught up with Dr. Jackson, his wife, and their teenage son.

Let’s Meet the Jackson Family 

Sumner Jackson (1884−1945) was a Jefferson Medical College graduate in 1914 and became a battlefield surgeon in France during World War I. He met a Swiss-born nurse, Charlotte (“Toquette”) Sylvie Barrelet de Ricout (1888−1968), during this time and they were married in 1917. Returning to the United States, the couple did not seem to fit in, and by 1921, they had returned to Paris. Sumner began as a staff surgeon with the American Hospital and during the interwar years, he gained a steadfast professional and personal reputation eventually becoming Dr. de Martel’s assistant. During that time, Dr. Jackson treated American expats such as Gertrude Stein, Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and e.e. cummings. A contemporary report to the hospital’s governors stated, “Too much praise cannot be given to Dr. Sumner Jackson.”

Sumner and Charlotte Jackson.
Sumner and Charlotte Jackson. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

In January 1928, Toquette gave birth to the couple’s only child, a son named Phillip (1928−2016) and he went by “Pete” for the remainder of his life. Pete adored his parents and the three of them lived comfortably on the ground floor of their residence at 11, av. Foch.

Dr. Jackson standing in the garden with his son, Pete.
Dr. Jackson standing in the garden with his son, Pete. Photo by anonymous (c. October 1928). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.
Toquette and Pete in the garden of their apartment at 11, avenue Foch. Photo by anonymous (c. August 1930). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.
Toquette and Pete in the garden of their apartment at 11, avenue Foch. Photo by anonymous (c. August 1930). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.
Dr. Sumner Jackson and his son, Pete, in the garden of their avenue Foch apartment.
Dr. Sumner Jackson and his son, Pete, in the garden of their avenue Foch apartment. Photo by anonymous (c. 1930). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

Avenue Boche

Following on the heels of the Wehrmacht entering Paris was a small Sonderkommando unit of Gestapo men. Handpicked by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the unit’s commander was thirty-year-old SS-Standartenführer Helmut Knochen (1910−2003). Knochen, the head of the Paris Gestapo, settled into his offices located at 72, av. Foch. His superiors, SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Bömelburg (1885−1946) and SS-Brigadeführer Karl Oberg (1897−1965) had offices at 84, av. Foch and nearby at 57, bd Lannes (Waffen-SS headquarters), respectively. The head of Sicherheitsdienst-SD counterintelligence, SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Josef Kieffer (1900−1947), worked out of 84, av. Foch. Reporting to Adolf Eichmann, SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodor Dannecker (1913−1945), head of the Bureau of Jewish Affairs, had his offices at 31 bis, av. Foch. The buildings at 80-84, av. Foch contained Gestapo offices used for imprisonment and torture. The KriPo, or Nazi police responsible for criminal investigations were housed at 74, av. Foch. The Paris Gestapo Amt III (intelligence operations) was headquartered at 58-60, av. Foch. Around the corner and within a short walking distance were the rue Pergolèse residences of Hugo Bleicher (1899−1982), the Nazis’ premier spy catcher and his next-door neighbor, the French traitor, Henri Déricourt (1909−1962).

SS-Standartenführer Helmut Knochen.
SS-Standartenführer Helmut Knochen. Photo by Kurt Alber (c. 1942). Bundesarchiv, Bild 101III-Alber-096-10/CCA-BY-SA. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Josef Kieffer.
SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Josef Kieffer. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.memoiresdeguerre.com
Exterior of 84, avenue Foch. The top floors contained rooms for Gestapo interrogation and torture as well as prisoner holding cells.
Exterior of 84, avenue Foch. The top floors contained rooms for Gestapo interrogation and torture as well as prisoner holding cells. Photo by Sandy Ross (c. September 2017).

Dr. Jackson and his family were surrounded by the most dangerous Nazis in Paris. It was a web of killers, double agents, collaborationists, and informers. Due to his position, protection from de Chambrun, and luck, the Jacksons almost managed to pull off their resistance activities for the entire four years of occupation without any interference from the Gestapo. However, in May 1944, their luck ran out.

Exterior of former residence of the Jackson family at 11, avenue Foch. The fence is original and behind it is the garden where photos were taken of Pete with his parents.
Exterior of former residence of the Jackson family at 11, avenue Foch. The fence is original and behind it is the garden where photos were taken of Pete with his parents. Photo by Sandy Ross (c. September 2017).

Resistance Activities

Pete hated the German occupiers and like many other teenagers, he carried chalk with him to scribble “V” on walls in recognition of the Allied victory sign. (That is until his parents found out.)

Dr. Jackson giving his son, Pete, boxing lessons in the garden of their apartment at 11, avenue Foch.
Dr. Jackson giving his son, Pete, boxing lessons in the garden of their apartment at 11, avenue Foch. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1938). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

Dr. Jackson had been aiding Allied agents and downed airmen since the occupation. However, by the spring of 1943, Toquette was approached by representatives of the Goélette-Frégate resistance network and asked the Jacksons to provide their home as a drop-off site for important intelligence material. It would put the Jackson family at great risk, but they finally agreed to the arrangement. They allowed Goélette agents to meet at the apartment but refused to allow radio transmissions as that would be an unnecessary risk. Despite their efforts to shield Pete, he eventually became involved in the family’s resistance activities including foolishly taking photos of the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire and the Atlantic Wall coastal defenses. (German soldiers were under orders to immediately execute any non-German caught taking photographs.)

By the fall of 1943, the Jackson’s “letter box” became an integral part of Goélette’s operations. Besides the normal maps and photographs, extremely important information passed through the avenue Foch residence including the first designs of Germany’s new V-1 rocket.

The Jacksons were no different than any other Parisian family in early 1944. They suffered from a lack of food and clothing. However, there was another gruesome fact. By mid-1943 and into 1944, Knochen and Keiffer had built up a sizeable network of spies, collaborationists, and informers. French résistants were being denounced, French and British resistance networks and circuits (e.g., British-led Special Operations Executive) were infiltrated, and scores of resistance agents were arrested, tortured, and deported/murdered under Hitler’s directive, Nacht und Nebel (click here to read the blog, Night and Fog).

Goélette knew the Germans were tightening the noose around the organization and Toquette was warned. On 24 May 1944, Goélette and its agents, including Toquette (nom de guerre: Colombiers), were betrayed to the Germans.

Arrest, Deportation, and Concentration Camps 

The Gestapo sent three members of the Milice (a Vichy collaborationist paramilitary organization) to the Jackson residence where Toquette and Pete were arrested. Almost simultaneously, the Gestapo arrested Dr. Jackson at the hospital.

The Milice interrogated each family member but never tortured them. On 7 June, they were turned over to the Gestapo for further questioning. As the Allies broke out of the Normandy beaches, Dr. Jackson and Pete were loaded into a bus destined for the Compiègne detention camp and from there, in mid-July, they were deported to KZ Neuengamme in northern Germany. Toquette was sent to the Romainville detention center and a month later, put on the last train out of Paris (click here to read the blog, The Last Train Out of Paris) with KZ Ravensbrück as her final destination.

The front entrance to KZ Neuengamme.
The front entrance to KZ Neuengamme. Photo by City of Hamburg (1 August 2020). PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

The Jacksons survived the winter of 1944/45 in the camps through sheer strength of willpower, courage, and determination. They all worked at hard labor. Dr. Jackson toiled as a machinist in a munitions factory (where he lost a finger) while Pete was assigned to clear bomb damage. Fortunately, Dr. Jackson found a replacement for his son and Pete was able instead to get a job in the camp kitchen, likely saving his life. Toquette’s life at KZ Ravensbrück was brutal. Starvation, lack of medical care, illness, and horrible working conditions contributed to Toquette’s physical deterioration. Worse than all of that, Toquette never knew what happened to her husband and son.

Women prisoners laboring at KZ Ravensbrück.
Women prisoners laboring at KZ Ravensbrück. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1985-0417-15/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.

SS Thielbek and the White Buses 

As the war neared its end, Heinrich Himmler gave the orders that all evidence of Nazi crimes was to be eliminated. This meant concentration camp prisoners were to be murdered so they couldn’t testify against their captors. However, Himmler was looking for ways to save his skin and he agreed to release some of the women prisoners (click here to read , The White Buses and here to read Ten Gifts of the White Bus Rescue). Under the White Bus project, Toquette was released and on 28 April 1945, she landed at Malmö, Sweden. Toquette’s physical condition was such that she was barely alive and had she not been released, it likely Toquette would have perished in the camp before its liberation. Of the 550 women deported with her from Paris on 15 August 1944, Toquette was one of only seventeen survivors.

Partial passenger list of former KZ Ravensbrück prisoners arriving by ferry at Malmö, Sweden. Toquette is listed third under “Amerikaner (U.S.A.).”
Partial passenger list of former KZ Ravensbrück prisoners arriving by ferry at Malmö, Sweden. Toquette is listed third under “Amerikaner (U.S.A.).” Photo by anonymous (c. April 1945).
Charlotte (“Toquette”) Jackson (right) arriving in Malmö, Sweden after her release from KZ Ravensbrück.
Charlotte (“Toquette”) Jackson (right) arriving in Malmö, Sweden after her release from KZ Ravensbrück. Photo by anonymous (28 April 1945). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.
Toquette recuperating in Malmö, Sweden.
Toquette recuperating in Malmö, Sweden. Photo by anonymous (c. April 1945). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

There were nine thousand inmates at KZ Neuengamme. By April 1945, the British were advancing toward the camp and six thousand men (including Dr. Jackson and Pete) were shipped to Lübeck where on 3 May, they boarded the cargo carrier, SS Thielbek. (Two passenger ships, Cap Arcona and the Deutschland, were also used.) The remaining three thousand prisoners at KZ Neuengamme were murdered by the camp guards.

SS Thielbek.
SS Thielbek. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). https://www.shipsnostalgia.com

Under Himmler’s orders, the Nazis planned to scuttle the three ships with all inmates on board. However, the British did not know the ships carried the prisoners and on the afternoon of 3 May, RAF fighters attacked. Pete was on deck when the Thielbek took a direct hit. He looked for his father and not seeing him, Pete jumped into the water. Reaching a lifeboat, Pete climbed in but was thrown back into the sea once the German sailors realized he was a prisoner. He swam to shore with two hundred other men. The first 150 ashore were mowed down by SS machine guns. Pete and the other fifty men swam away and came ashore further down the beach where they were taken by the SS to Neustadt along with 200 other survivors from the sinking ships. Lined up to be shot, Pete and the others heard the sound of British tanks and their would-be executioners fled. The arrival of British troops saved the lives of fifty survivors of the sinking of the Thielbek. Pete was one of them.

The wreck of the SS Thielbeck. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). Traces of War. Getuigen.
The wreck of the SS Thielbeck. Photo by anonymous (c. May 1945). Traces of War. Getuigen.

An eyewitness told Pete that his father was seen in the water clinging to a plank but was clearly having “difficulties.” Dr. Jackson’s body was never recovered.

Pete in Neustadt one month after escaping death at the hands of the Nazis. Photo by anonymous (c. June 1945). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.
Pete in Neustadt one month after escaping death at the hands of the Nazis. Photo by anonymous (c. June 1945). Courtesy of Loraine Riemer.

Post War 

Pete enlisted in the British army and ultimately returned to Paris where he was reunited with his mother in September 1945. The apartment on avenue Foch was just as they left it more than a year and a half earlier.

At the age of seventeen, Pete returned to Germany in 1946 to testify against fourteen men who had run the Neuengamme concentration camp. Every defendant Pete testified against was found guilty and hanged.

Pete Jackson remained in Paris, awarded the French Legion of Honor as well as the Croix de Guerre, and after a serious accident in the late 1990s, lived out his life at L’Hôpital des Invalides. Pete strove his entire life to encourage improvement of Franco-German relations.

Toquette passed away in 1968 at the American Hospital of Paris.

The Jackson Award         

In 2013, the board of governors of the American Hospital of Paris created the Jackson Award to commemorate the services of Dr. and Mrs. Jackson to the hospital before and during World War II. The first recipients of the Jackson medal were Sumner and Toquette and Pete accepted the award on their behalf.

I’m grateful to have developed a dialogue with Pete’s daughter, Loraine and I thank her for providing some of the images used in this blog. The Jackson’s avenue Foch apartment will be one of the featured stops in volume two of Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters?

 

Next Blog:  “The British Kardashian Sisters”


Correspondence and Commentary Policy 

We welcome everyone to contact us either directly or through the individual blogs. Sandy and I review every piece of correspondence before it is approved to be published on the blog site. Our policy is to accept and publish comments that do not project hate, political, religious stances, or an attempt to solicit business (yeah, believe it or not, we do get that kind of stuff). Like many bloggers, we receive quite a bit of what is considered “Spam.” Those e-mails are immediately rejected without discussion.

Our blogs are written to inform our readers about history. We want to ensure discussions are kept within the boundary of historical facts and context without personal bias or prejudice.

We average about one e-mail every two days from our readers. We appreciate all communication because in many cases, it has led to friendships around the world.


★ Read and Learn More About Today’s Topic ★

Bleicher, Hugo. Colonel Henri’s Story. London: William Kimber and Co. Limited, 1954.

Brouwer, Marilyn. The Fascinating Story of the American Hospital of Paris. Bonjour Paris, 3 May 2021. Click here to read the article.

Brownell, Will and Richard N. Billings. So Close to Greatness: A Biography of William C. Bullitt. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987.

Delarue, Jacques. The Gestapo: A History of Horror. Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2008. (Originally published by Libraire Arthème Fayard, 1962.)

Etkind, Alexander. Roads Not Taken: An Intellectual Biography of William C. Bullitt. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

Glass, Charles. Americans in Paris: Life & Death Under Nazi Occupation. New York: Penguin Books, 2010.

Glass, Charles. American Hospital of Paris: Brave Volunteers & Heroes of the Resistance. Click here to read the article.

Helm, Sarah. A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII. New York: Anchor Books, 2007.

Kershaw, Alex. Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris. New York: Broadway Books, 2015.

Lagard, Dorothée. Américan Hospital of Paris 1906−2006: L’aventured’un siècle. Paris: Cherche Midi, 2006. (French edition)

Vaughan, Hal. Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris. Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, Inc., 2004.

Vega, Ricardo and Richard Lerchbaum (producers). Doctor Jackson’s File (Le dossier du Docteur Jackson). Lunaticas Productions, 2015.

Disclaimer:

There may be a chance that after we publish this particular blog, the video links associated with the blog are no longer accessible. We have no control over this. Many times, whoever posts the video has done so without the consent of the video’s owner. In some cases, it is likely that the content is deemed unsuitable by YouTube. We apologize if you have tried to access the link and you don’t get the expected results. Same goes for internet links.

What’s New With Sandy and Stew?

Sandy and I attended my 50th high school reunion in late July. We traveled to Akron, Ohio for what was a three-hour gathering of people I didn’t recognize but my memory was somewhat refreshed by their name tags. In many cases, I didn’t remember the person even with the help of a name badge. Unfortunately, the high school senior yearbook photos were not included on the badges and that little detail might have helped. Kudos to the committee of five people organizing the reunion. Other than the missing nametag pictures and the loud music (didn’t they know we’re old and can’t hear?), they did a wonderful job of planning, communicating, and executing the affair. I can’t wait for the 100th reunion.

By the way, did you know that a new movie starring Anthony Hopkins will have a screening at this year’s BFI London Film Festival? “One Life” is the story of Sir Nicholas Winton and his efforts to save children from the Nazis (click here to read the blog, Kindertransport and Mr. Winton).

Thank you to all of you who subscribe to our bi-weekly blogs. It seems there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t increase our readership. Please let your history buff friends and family members know about our blog site and blogs.

Someone Is Commenting On Our Blogs 

It is always a pleasure to hear from Nicole C. She always has so many personal stories and memories regarding our blog topics. This time she commented on our blog, Mulberry Harbor & The Delta Works (click here to read).

Nicole remembers as a ten-year-old in a French school hearing about the 1953 Great Flood. The students were asked to knit a square of wool to make blankets. Nicole says that is how she learned to knit. They also sent toys to the Dutch children affected by the disaster.

Nicole, I’ll keep the blogs coming if you promise to keep sending us your stories and memories.

If there is a topic you’d like to see a blog written about, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I love hearing from you so keep those comments coming.


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Do you enjoy reading? Do you have a hard time finding the right book in the genre you enjoy? Well, Ben at Shepherd.com has come up with an amazing way to find that book.

Shepherd highlights an author (like me) and one of their books. The author is required to review five books in the same genre. So, if a reader is interested say in cooking, they can drill down and find specific books about cooking that have been reviewed by authors in that category. Very simple.

If you like to read, I highly recommend you visit Shepherd.com. If you do, please let me know what you think and I will forward Ben any suggestions or comments you might have.

Click here to visit Shepherd’s website.

Click the books to visit Stew’s bookshelf.

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Check out Stew’s new bookshelf on the French Revolution.

Shepherd FR Bookshelf


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