I thought perhaps you might like to read about a site I’ve decided to include in the first volume of our new book series, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? A Walking Tour of Nazi-Occupied Paris. For those of you who have read one or more of my prior books, you know that four walks are included along with a section called “Métro Walks.” Each of the four walks has multiple stops and you can walk from one stop to the next without having to jump on the métro. However, there are sites that are interesting, but I couldn’t fit them into any of the walks or they are stand-alone stops accessible by means other than the métro. Typically, I include four of these sites in each book. For example, in volume two of the book, Where Did They Burn the Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar? A Walking Tour of Medieval Paris, one of the Métro Walk stops is Château-Gaillard. This is the castle built by King Richard the Lionheart after he was released from captivity in 1194 by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. It has a very interesting history and the castle’s ruins are situated on a hill overlooking the Seine River and easily accessible by car.
Today’s subject is in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris about seventeen miles (twenty kilometers) to the west. It also sits on a hill overlooking the Seine. Its strategic location was one of the reasons why Hitler chose Saint-Germain-en-Laye as headquarters for the Oberbefehlshaber West (Ob West), or German Commander-in-Chief in the West. It is a somewhat compact town and perfect for walking to the numerous bunkers built by the Germans as well as their command headquarters. It is also a town with quite a bit of French history.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Château Neuf, 1637. The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye can be seen in the background. The Pavilion Henri IV is the pavilion on the right. Illustration by Auguste Alexandre Guillaumot (c. 1800s). Bibliothèque nationale de France. PD-GallicaScan. Wikimedia Commons.
Our story today originated as a result of an e-mail from one of our readers, Andrew B. who read our blog Double Agent or Bad Neighbor?(read here). Andrew pointed out that I had “missed a key point, 140 meters away from (where) Déricourt, lived Yvonne Grover-Williams.” Andrew went on to briefly describe Yvonne’s role during the German occupation of Paris.
Andrew was right about me missing this one on Yvonne and her story. To be honest, I had never run across this woman or her husband, William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams, head of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) CHESTNUT circuit in Paris. During the occupation, Yvonne lived at 21, rue Weber which was around the corner from Henri Déricourt’s apartment about five hundred feet away at 58, rue Pergolèse (and next door to the renown Nazi spy catcher, Hugo Bleicher) and not too far from Avenue Foch where various Gestapo units set up their offices including the infamous interrogation and torture cells on the fifth and sixth floors at number 84.
Exterior of Henri Déricourt’s apartment building: 58, rue Pergolèse. Photo by Sandy Ross (2017).
Well, that sent me down, yet another rabbit hole and I discovered a wonderful book by Joe Saward called The Grand Prix Saboteurs. Part of the story includes the years Yvonne spent as Sir William Orpen’s mistress, modeling for his paintings in some very suggestive nude poses. Then, with Orpen’s approval, she married the couple’s chauffeur.
Did You Know?
Did you know that a gruesome discovery was made several years ago in Berlin at the Charité University Hospital? In several of my past blogs, I’ve talked about the Nazi executions (i.e., beheadings) of women prisoners − principally political resisters − at Plötzensee Prison (readThe Nazi Guillotinebloghere). After their executions, the bodies were sent over to the Berlin Institute of Anatomy at Charité where Dr. Hermann Stieve (1886-1952) was an internationally acclaimed anatomist. His research specialized in the effects of stress on the menstrual cycle. Before the Nazis came to power in 1933, women were not executed in Germany. However, that changed quickly under the Nazi party. Approximately 182 women were tried before a Nazi court (read Hitler’s Blood Judge blog here), found guilty, and executed. Stieve performed dissections on their reproductive organs to support his research. After he was finished, the remains were discretely cremated and disposed of in locations that were never disclosed to the families. Some of these victims included the women of the Red Orchestra resistance organization (readDie Rote Kapelle blog here) while others were convicted of innocuous crimes including distributing leaflets.
Professor Hermann Stieve lecturing an anatomy class. Photo by anonymous (c. 1943). Private collection – DocHu. PD-Author Release. Wikimedia Commons.
In 2016, more than three hundred microscope slides once belonging to Stieve were discovered at Charité. These were samples taken from the bodies he dissected during the war. They were stored in small black boxes with the names of the victims. On 13 May 2019, a small coffin containing the slides was buried at Berlin’s Dorotheenstadt Cemetery in a grave near one of the memorials to the victims of the Nazis. It is hoped that this will give some closure to the victims’ families as well as an effort to ensure the Nazis’ crimes will not be forgotten. Despite joining right-wing organizations during the interwar period (the time between World Wars I and II) and becoming a strong supporter of Hitler, Dr. Stieve never joined the Nazi party. As a result, he was never tried for war crimes.
Procession to bury small coffin containing slides of human tissue from women prisoners executed by the Nazis. Photo by anonymous (c. 2019). Reuters – BBC.
Let’s Meet Yvonne Aupicq
Yvonne Aupicq (1896-1973) was born in Lille, France to Joseph Aupicq, a schoolteacher and Laetitia who worked as a housekeeper. Many accounts of Yvonne’s life mention her father was mayor of Lille and her last name was spelled Aubicq. However, her birth certificate and other historical records do not substantiate either of those assertions.
Yvonne was a strikingly beautiful woman with deep blue eyes and golden curly hair. She worked at a hospital during World War I which is where she met the famous Irish portrait artist, Major William Orpen (1878-1931), who was assigned to the war’s Western Front as an official Allied war artist. Learn more about Major William Orpen here. Read More “Racer, Spy and the Erotic Model”
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
“Stew blends the dark history of buildings in Paris that are associated with the infamous deeds of the Gestapo with contrasting insights into the bravery of the French people, who, at great risk to themselves and their families, secretly resisted the German Occupation.”
Stanley Booker, MBE, RAF (Ret.), Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur
