Heroes or Villains?: The True Story of Saving Jews in Occupied France Where There Were Heroes and Villains and Sometimes, You Could Not Tell the Difference

By Carl L. Steinhouse

Heroes or Villains? is the true story of the Holocaust in France that started when France surrendered to the Germans and Marshal Henri Philippe Ptain arrived to form, under the German watch, a petty French dictatorshipthe Vichy governmentwith these Vichy villains intent on assisting the short-handed Germans (who lacked the manpower to round up the Jews because Hitlers troops had been thrown into the war on the Soviet front) by using French police to round up the Jews in France and turn them over to the Nazi murderers. In this exciting true story of how heroes from other countries faced up to the Germans and Vichy, risking their lives to help hide or spirit Jews out of France, heroes like the American volunteers and American consul in Lyon and heroes like French pastors, bishops, monks, nuns, the French Rsistance and Jewish underground. These, then, are some of their stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524643720

Carl L. Steinhouse

Carl L. Steinhouse formerly a federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice and later in private practice specializing in class actions, white-collar crime, and civil and criminal antitrust trials. He wrote or edited several textbooks for the American Bar Association on conducting antitrust trials and grand juries. During the Korean War, he served in as an intelligence analyst in the Army Counterintelligence Corps. He is a graduate of New York University and Brooklyn Law School. He has authored two legal thrillers, Harassment and Extreme Malice, one Holocaust novel, The Outfielder, Irreverent memoirs, Now What? seven books in his Holocaust Heroes series to rave reviews by scholars, three volumes on the Pacific War against the Japanese, and a book on the Atlantic U-boat war. See WWW.carlsteinhouse.com. Communicate with Mr. Steinhouse at [e-mail].

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© 2016 Carl L. Steinhouse. All rights reserved.

Cover: Paul Yosowitz

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/18/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4373-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4371-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4372-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916846

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Contents

Author’s Notes

Cast Of Characters

Organizations

Preface

Chapter One The Sword Of Damocles

Chapter Two The Sword Falls

Chapter Three France Falls, Treats The Beleaguered Refugees As The Enemy

Chapter Four The ‘Phony’ War

Chapter Five Phony War Ends; Germans Overwhelm French Defenses

Chapter Six Mussolini, Riding Hitler’s Coattails, Declares War

Chapter Seven France In Abject Surrender; They Called It An ‘Armistice’

Chapter Eight Pétain Scuttles Democracy In France; Vichy Is The New Government

Chapter Nine First Lady Supports Helping The Jews But The State Department Plans To Thwart Rescue Efforts

Chapter Ten Varian Fry Arrives In France

Chapter Eleven Some Stubborn Artists Give Fry Trouble

Chapter Twelve Crossing The Borders To Freedom

Chapter Thirteen Operation Sealion Cancelled

Chapter Fourteen Pétain Fires Laval, Assumes Dictatorial Powers

Chapter Fifteen Hitler Lays Out His Plan To Attack The Soviet Union

Chapter Sixteen State Department Bans Jewish Entry, Recalls Vice Consul Bingham

Chapter Seventeen State Sends Bingham Home And Creates More Visa Restrictions

Chapter Eighteen French Police Kick Fry Out Of France; Germans Invade Russia

Chapter Nineteen The Final Solution

Chapter Twenty French Citizens Subject To Forced Labor In Germany

Chapter Twenty-One French Police Arrest Jews

Chapter Twenty-Two Le Chambon Protects The Jews

Chapter Twenty-Three Extermination Of Jews Discovered And Revealed To The World

Chapter Twenty-Four Forced Labor Sends Frenchmen Fleeing Into The Arms Of The Résistance

Chapter Twenty-Five Roosevelt Sympathizes With Algeria’s Anti-Jewish Laws

Chapter Twenty-Six The Milice

Chapter Twenty-Seven Lulu’s Secret Message

Chapter Twenty-Eight The Pope Won’t Condemn The Nazis; Mussolini Gone

Chapter Twenty-Nine Germans Occupy Nice; Gestapo Tortures Toureille

Chapter Thirty Laval Appoints A Thug As New Head Of The Malice

Chapter Thirty-One Bip The Clown To The Rescue

Chapter Thirty-Two Odette Sent To Auschwitz; Ugif Jewish Leaders Ignore Warnings

Chapter Thirty-Three German Commander Refuses To Obey Hitler’s Order To Destroy Paris; Paris Liberated

Chapter Thirty-Four Cécile And Lulu Freed, They Help The Allies Identify The Ss Camp Guards

Epilogue

Bibliography

About The Author

Other Books by Author

Dedicated to the Memory of Fred Schwartz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Instructor on the Holocaust, Crusader against Genocide, and my Very Dear and Good Friend from the Bronx

Moussa shrugged. "That Vichy gang is simply composed of collaborationists and villains looking out for their own skin. It’s a hell of a thing, but France has become the only European country, other than Bulgaria, to arrest Jews and hand them over to the Nazis for deportation in areas the Germans do not even occupy. The shame rests with those collaborators."

Thank God for heroes like you, Moussa.

Author’s Notes

Heroes of the Holocaust, that’s what I named the series of books I authored on saving the Jews in Europe. I started with Hungary, then Lithuania, Italy, and Bulgaria, following up with a book on establishing a home for the refugees of the Holocaust in a nation that became known as Israel, and a book I co-authored on the lingering effects on the survivors of the Holocaust and their progeny. Then came my decision to look at the facts surrounding the Holocaust in France. What a revelation! I found that the French villains may have actually outnumbered the French heroes, hence the title, Heroes and Villains. We are talking here about the French, not the Germans whose villainy, with a few exceptions, was a given.

Sad to say, there is no lack of villainy in in the United States either during the war, with the focus primarily on the American State Department. But you knew that already if you had read any of my earlier books in the Holocaust series. Of course Eleanor, the First Lady, as usual, comes out a hero in her own way, and the President, FDR, a hero in his determination to fight Hitler, but not in his desire to save Jews.

But getting back to France, no other Hitler-conquered nation, except to a much lesser degree, Hungary, dedicated its government, its police force, its special forces (the Milice in France), had so eagerly collaborated with the Germans, to identify, isolate and round up Jews. Indeed, the grateful Germans, facing a war on two fronts (against the Soviets in the east and the Allies in the west), knew they did not have the troops to police and round up the Jews in France! But for the helpful anti-Jewish laws of Vichy (the name given to the collaborationist government of war-time France) and its police assisting the Nazis in isolating and identifying the Jews, most Jews would have survived. Vichy insisted that their French police forces and prefects not only cooperate with the Germans, but do their dirty work in arresting Jews and holding them in French concentration camps until the Nazis were ready to ship them to Auschwitz or other death camps—Jews that the short-handed German Nazis, by themselves, could not round up. This, of course, resulted in many, many more Jews in France perishing in the death camps. Let me repeat this in another, very blunt, way: The Germans, lacking the troops, could not have rounded up the Jews in France without the willing and substantial help of the French. All this made possible because the French hero of the First World War, Marshal of France, Henri Pétain, destroyed the democratic Third French Republic and replaced it with the sniveling, collaborationist dictatorship, in the form of the Vichy government.

But there were also many heroes among the French people, the French clergy, the Résistance, the Jewish underground, the Americans who came to France and put themselves in harm’s way to try to save the Jews, as well as some diplomats, primarily vice consuls from various nations, and yes, even one American vice consul stationed in Marseille, France. This, then, is their story.

While the events are true, the book is not a documentary; it is what academia likes to call creative non-fiction. In other words, since I was not the fly on the wall (nor was anyone else living today), in most instances, I created the dialogue based on my research of the of facts and I am confident that the dialog, as I portray it, does not do an injustice to history as I understood it. Sometimes, less creativity was required when I had the advantage of diaries or the published statements of those who witnessed such conversations first hand. With this approach, I hope to present history in an exciting, interesting, and educational manner.

All but one or two of the German Nazi characters are real as are those of the of the French government, the French prelates, the French police, most of the Résistance, and most of the French citizens portrayed in the book. However, for many, many of the victims of the Holocaust, refugees, French or foreign, trapped in France, their identities remain unknown. Nevertheless, their suffering and fate is well documented so I have given some of them identities, albeit fictional ones. For the reader’s convenience, I have included a Cast of Characters and those with fictional identities appear in boldface. Yes, I have given them names (i.e., those whose names remain unknown thanks to the atrocities committed) and, at times, to keep the book length manageable, combined the experiences of several such victims—experiences that were all too real and suffered by far too many Jews. In this Cast of Characters, sometimes you can’t tell the heroes from villains (other than the Germans, of course) without a scorecard. So I thought I’d help by providing a legend with H=heroes, V=villains, and B=both (those having, at different times, exhibited both characteristics). Sometimes it’s hard to decide which. Like Chamberlain, for example, who stood by while Hitler took over Austria and Czechoslovakia. A grand appeaser, yes, but also a patriot who finally declared war on Germany after it invaded Poland. Some, on the other hand, like Joe Kennedy, American Ambassador to Britain, and Lord Halifax, British foreign secretary under Chamberlain, were so pro-German, I could find no redeeming features and thus had no problem labeling them villains.

In the dialogue, the First World War is often referred to as at least up the late 1939, as the Great War.

As usual, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my wife, Diana, whose patience (and my lack thereof) is legend. Her reading, insights, and editing of my manuscript day-by-day and chapter-by-chapter as I ground them out, she did with love and understanding—and that helped me enormously.

Cast of Characters

Legend:

H=Hero of the Holocaust;

V=Villain of the Holocaust;

B=Persons who exhibit the both characteristics! Germans in this story are assumed to be villains unless otherwise noted.

Names in boldface are fictitious persons (The events occurred, but the names of victims or heroes are often lost to history)

Abadi, Moussa (H)-Syrian Jew and lawyer, part of the Marcel Network in France

Abetz, Heinrich Otto-Unofficial German Ambassador to Occupied France

Arnou, Père (H)-Personal representative of Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier

Arendt, Hannah-German Jewish philosopher, writer, and anti-Nazi

Arthur-Jewish author, refugee from Austria

Badoglio, Pietro-Italian General, successor as premier to deposed dictator, Mussolini

Balbo, Italo-Italian General

Barbie, Klaus-Gestapo head in Lyon, known for his extreme cruelty

Bass, Joseph (H)-Russian engineer who saved Jews in France under the alias, Brother André

Beauchamp-French Résistance fighter

Beauchene, Durant-Alias used by Simon Goldberg

Beauregard (H)-Member of the Résistance in Tunisia

Beck, Ludwig-German General

Beneš, Edvard-President of Czechoslovakia when Hitler invaded his nation.

Benoȋt, Père Marie (H)-Monk in a Capuchin Monastery in Lyon, aka (in Italy) Padre Maria Benedetto

Benedetto, Padre Maria (H)-See Père Marie Benoȋt

Biddle, Anthony Joseph-American Ambassador to Poland at start of World War II

Bingham, Hiram (H)-American Vice Consul in Marseille, France

Blum, Léon-Former Jewish premier of France

Boegner, Marc (H)-Pastor, French Protestant Church

Bohn, Frank (H)-Sent to France by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to help save European labor leaders wanted by the Gestapo

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (H)-Liberal German Protestant theologian and an opponent of Nazism

Bonnet, Georges Étienne (V)-Finance Minister of France

Borah, William (V)-American Senator

Bosque, Gilberto (H)-Mexican Consulate General in Marseille

Bousquet, René (V)-Secretary General to the Vichy Police

Brauchitsch, Walther von-German Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army early in World War II

Breitscheid, Rudolph-Anti-Nazi intellectual, a German Social Democrat politician

Breker, Arno-Hitler’s favorite sculptor

Breton, André-French writer, poet, and anti-fascist

Brouchard, André (V)-French informant in Grenoble

Brunner, Alois-SS Commander in Nice

Bullitt, William-American Ambassador to France at the start of World War II

Campet, General-Military doctor and personal physician to Pétain

Canaris, Wilhelm-Chief of Abwehr, German Counterintelligence

Captain/Pilot, Crew and Ground Crew Chief of the American B-17 Bomber, the Merry Sue

Cavell-Local Résistance Leader in Limoges

Cécile (H)-French Jewess in German slave labor munitions factory

Chagall, Marc-Russian-French artist

Chamberlain, Neville-British Prime Minister at start of the World War II

Chassaigne, Aimable (H)-Monsignor, Bishop of Tulle

Chautemps, Camille-Premier of France, June 1937-March 1938

Chief of Police (B) of-le Chambon

Choltitz, Dietrich von-German General, Military Governor of Paris

Churchill, Winston (H)-World War II Prime Minister of Great Britain

Ciano, Galeazzo-Mussolini’s son-in-law and Italian Foreign Minister

Cohn, Marianne (H)-Operative in the Sixième Bureau, the Résistance intelligence arm

Daladier, Édouard (B)-Premier of France when war broke out in 1939

Dantas, De Souza (H)-Brazilian Ambassador to France

Darlan, François (V)-French Admiral and Premier during 1941-1942

Darnand, Joseph (V)-Vichy’s Secretary General, and then Head of the Milice

Davenport, Miriam (H)-American volunteer assisting Varian Fry

de Bono, Emilio-Italian General

de Gaulle, Charles (H)-French General, leader of the Free French Government-in-Exile in London

de Pury, Roland (H)-Protestant Minister in Lyon

Delattre, Sylvie (H)-Alias of Odessa Rosenstock

Donati, Angelo (H)-Jewish Banker, Director of the French-Italian Bank of Credit, rescuer of Jews

Dreyfus, Alfred-French Army captain

Duchamp, Marcel-French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer

Eden, Anthony (B)-Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Chamberlain and later, War Secretary under Prime Minister Churchill

Edmonds, Roddie (H)-Master Sergeant, US Army, prisoner of war

Eichmann, Adolph-SS Major, later promoted to SS Colonel, in charge of the Department for Jewish Affairs

Eisenhower, Dwight-American General commanding the Allied invasion forces

Emmanuel III-King of Italy during World War II

Etalon (H)-Zionist activist who had a hand in the creation of Armée Juive, the Jewish Army

Favre, Father Louis (H)-Teacher at École Saint Francois, hider of Jewish Children

Fayol, Pierre (H)-Local Résistance leader in Plateau Vivarais-Lignon region

FDR-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Feuchtwanger, Leon-German-Jewish novelist and playwright and fierce critic of the Nazi Party

Fizler (H)-Passeur/Escort/Guide taking Jewish refugees over the border to Switzerland

Franco, Francisco-Spanish Dictator

Fritsch, Werner- German General

Fry, Varian (H)- American citizen sent by the Emergency Rescue Committee to save Jews in France

Fullerton, Hugh (V)- American Consul General in Marseille, France

Gamelin, Maurice- French General

Garner, John Nance- Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt, late 1930s

Gaston (H)- French Résistance fighter in the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon area

George, David Lloyd- British Prime Minister during World War I

George- King of England

Gerlier, Pierre-Marie (H)- Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyon

Ginsberg, Arthur- Lieutenant, US Army Counterintelligence Corps

Giraud, Henri (V)- French General in North Africa

Goebbels, Joseph- Propaganda Minister under Hitler

Goering, Hermann- German Field Marshal, Chief of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force

Goldberg, Sarah- wife of Simon, and their daughters, Leah and Marthe

Goldberg, Simon- Jewish refugee from Alsace-Lorraine

Goldenberg, Leo (H)- leader in the Jewish Résistance, aka Leo Hamon

Gottesman, Simon- French Jew in hiding in Grenoble

Grandval, Gilbert (H)- leader in the Jewish Résistance

Guderian, Heinz- German General, Chief of Staff of the German Army High Command

Hácha, Emil- President of Czechoslovakia, successor to Edvard Beneš

Hall, Virginia (H)- American Jewish reporter, stationed in France, an operative in Special Operations Executive of British Intelligence conducting espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance

Halder, Franz- German General, chief of the OKH General Staff

Halifax, Lord (V)- aka Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, British Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Chamberlain

Hammel, Frederic (H)- Head of a home for Jewish Scouts in Moissac, south France

Harmon, Leo (H)- See Leo Goldenberg

Hans- Aide to Captain Theodor Dannecker

Herzl, Theodore-Zionist activist and a visionary urging an independent Jewish Homeland in Palestine

Heydrich, Reinhard-SS General, Director of Reich Security

Himmler, Heinrich-Reichsführer, Head of the German SS

Hitler, Adolf-German Dictator, aka Der Führer

Hull, Cordell (V)-Secretary of State under FDR

Humbert (H)-Underground woman propagandist in Paris

Huntziger, Charles-French General

Isaac-Jewish refugee from Austria

Jodl, Alfred-German Colonel, promoted to General by Hitler and made Chief of Operations Staff of the newly formed OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) of the German Army

Jewish Soldiers of the Jewish Brigade of the British Army

Karl-Gestapo agent

Karski, Jan-Polish soldier and defender

Keitel, Wilhelm-German General, and later Field Marshal

Kennedy, Joseph (V)-American Ambassador to Britain at the start of World War II

Knochen, Helmut-Chief of German Security in Paris

Koppelman-Lawyer in Switzerland

Kluber, Heinz-Gestapo agent assigned to the Paris office

Kramer, Josef, aka Beast of Belsen-Commandant of Bergen-Belsen Death Camp

La Blond, Alice-Gestapo leader in Nice

Lambert, Raymond-Raoul (B)-Jewish French patriot awarded the highest medals in World War I and UGIF leader

Lamirand, George (V)-Vichy Minister for Youth

Laval, Pierre (V)-First Prime Minister under Pétain

Leahy, William (V)-American Ambassador to France, appointed in March 1941

Lesage, Gilbert (V)-Head of Vichy Social Services for Foreigners

Lindbergh, Charles (V)-Aviator and noted isolationist in America

Little Pierre (H)-Monk in the Capuchin Monastery

in Lyon

Long, Breckinridge (V)-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State in charge of the Visa Section

Loewen (H)-Pastor of Protestant Church near Paris

Lola (H)-Proprietress of a café in le Chambon

Lospinoso, Guido-Italian Commissioner of Jewish Affairs,

Lowrie, Donald (H)-American sent by the YMCA to assist refugees, President of the Committee of Nȋmes

Lulu (H)-French Jewess in German slave labor munitions factory

Lumbroso, Sylvian (H)-Jewish doctor in Tunis

MacDuffie, Irwin-FDR’s valet at the White House

Maglione, Luigi (H)-Cardinal Secretary of State under Pope Pius XII

Mann, Golo-son of Thomas Mann

Mann, Heinrich-brother of Thomas Mann

Mann, Thomas-German writer and critic of Hitler

Marceau, Alain (H)-Jewish rescuer and brother of Marcel Marceau; changed name from Alain Mangel;

Marceau, Marcel (H)-Mime and Jewish rescuer and guide, changed name from Marcel Mangel; aka Bip the Clown; brother of Alain Marceau

Marchandeau, Paul-Minister of Finance in Daladier government in 1938-1939

Marcoux, Purvis (V)-Member of the Milice

Marie (H)-Sister in Sisters of Santa Clotilde Convent

Margesson, David-Government Chief Whip in British Parliament

Marius (H)-Deputy Résistance leader in the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon area

Marshall, George-American General

Martin-Chauffier, Simon (H)-Producer of Résistance publications

Matisse, Henri-French artist

Mayer, Simon (B)-UGIF leader

Mayor of Grenoble

McDuffie, Irwin-FDR’s valet

McNutt, Paul (H)-State Department representative in the Philippines

Mehring, Walter-German poet, anti-Nazi

Mendes, Aristides de Sousa (H)-Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux, France

Meyer- SS Colonel, Gestapo Chief in Grenoble

Mittelhauser, Eugène-French General in the Middle East

Morel (H)-Farmer hiding Jews

Mother Superior of the Sisters of Clotilde Convent (H)

Mussolini, Benito-Italian Dictator, aka Il Duce

Noguès, Auguste-French General in North Africa

Nye, Gerald (V)-U.S. Senator

Oberg, Karl-German General, Chief of SS in France

Pariani, Alberto-Italian General, Chief of the General Staff

Paul (H)-Résistance fighter in the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon area

Pétain, Philippe (V)- French Marshal, leader of the Vichy Government

Peyrouton, Marcel (V)- French Governor-General of Algeria

Philipe-Paris resident fleeing the city with his wife

Phipps, Sir Eric-British Ambassador to France

Picasso, Pablo-Spanish artist residing in France

Pierre (H)-Résistance leader in Grenoble

Piquet, Gabriel, Monsignor (B)-French Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand

Poch family-German Jewish\Refugees; children, Maurice, Max, and Andrée

Politzer, George (H)-underground publisher in Paris

Pope Pius XI (H)-Predecessor to Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII (B)-Pope during World War II

Portier, Yves (V)-Member of the Milice

Prefect of le Chambon (B)

Pucheu, Pierre (V)-Minister of the Interior in the Vichy government

Quezon, Manuel (H)-President of the Philippines

Raeder, Erich-German Admiral, Commander of the U-boat fleet

Rauff, Walther-SS Colonel, Commander in Tunisia

Riegner, Gerald (H)-Director of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva

Rémond, Paul-Jules-Narcisse (H)-Bishop of Nice

Reynaud, Paul-Justice Minister (B), and then Finance Minister under Premier Daladier, and his successor as Prime Minister

Ribbentrop, Joachim von-Foreign Minister under Hitler, Captain in the SS

Rommel, Edwin-German General in North Africa leading the Panzer Corps

Roosevelt, Eleanor (H)-First Lady, wife of FDR

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (B)-(FDR) US President for most of World War II, died in April 1945, just before the German surrender

Rosen, Leon (H)-Jewish Scout leader

Rosenberg (H)-Commander of Jewish Résistance forces

Rosenstock, Odessa (H)-German Jew and doctor, part of the Marcel Network in France

Rothmund, Heinrich (V)-Director of the Police Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice

Rottée, Lucien (V)-French police official

Roux, Henri (H)-Farmer near Lyon

Peyrouton, Marcel (V)-French Governor-General of Algeria

Rundstedt, Gerd von-German General

Sagalowitz, Benjamin (H)-Member of the Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities

Saliège, Jules-Géraud (H)-Archbishop of Toulouse, elevated to Cardinal in 1946 by Pope Pius XII

Salin, Edgar (H)-Professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Basel, Switzerland

Salon, Nicole (H)-see Nicole Weil

Sergeant in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army

Salazar, Antonio (B)-Portuguese Dictator

Sauckel, Fritz-German Chief of Forced Labor Deployment

Schmidt-Aide to Heinrich Rothmund in the Swiss Department of Justice

Schulte, Eduard (H)-German industrialist, Breslau Mining Conglomerate

Sharp, Waitstill and Martha (H)-American couple, sent to Europe by the Unitarian Service Committee to save refugees

Shirley (H)-Résistance courier

Simon, Leonard and family-Jewish refugees from Strasbourg

Solomon, Jacques (H)-Underground publisher in Paris

Sommer, Artur (H)-Colonel in Wehrmacht, Liaison to Abwehr, German Counterintelligence

Spears, Louis-British General

Speer, Albert-Architect, confidant of Hitler

Sperber, Anna and Ferdinand-Jewish couple, refugees from Vienna, Austria

Stalin, Josef-Soviet Dictator

Stein, Gertrude-American novelist, poet, playwright, residing in Paris

Steinhardt, Sigmund-German Jewish refugee in hiding in Paris

Suhard, Emmanuel(H)-Cardinal, Archbishop of Paris

Theis, Edouard (H)-Protestant Pastor in le Chambon

Theis, Mildred (H)-Wife of Pastor Theis

Thompson, Walter-Bodyguard for Churchill

Toklas, Alice B.-Confidante of Gertrude Stein, and living with her in Paris

Tor, British Major-Military Attaché in Madrid

Toureille, Délie (H)-Wife of Pastor Toureille

Toureille, Pierre-Charles (H)-Evangelist Pastor in the French Reformed Protestant Church in Lunel, France

Trocmé, Andre (H)-Protestant Pastor in le Chambon

Trocmé, Magda (H)-Wife of Pastor Trocmé

Vallat, Xavier (V)-Vichy Commissariat-General for Jewish Questions

Vereker, John-British General and Commander of the British Expeditionary Forces at Dunkirk

Vichy Police (V)

Villig-German official

Vuillemin, Joseph-General in charge of the French Air Force

Warren, Avra (V)-Assistant to Breckinridge Long at the State Department

Weil, Nicole (H)-aka Nicole Salon, helped Moussa Abadi escort Jewish children to safety

Welles, Sumner (B)-U.S. Under Secretary of State

Werfel, Franz-Writer and anti-Nazi

Weygand, Maxime-French General

Wilson, Sir Horace-Special advisor to Prime Minister Chamberlain and a supporter of the appeasement of Hitler

Organizations

Abwehr-German counterintelligence organization

Africa Korps-German military forces in North Africa, commanded by General Erwin Rommel, aka Desert Fox

American Federation of Labor-U.S. labor organization supporting the rescue of refugees in France

American Quakers-Pacifist religious organization in the United States providing food and essentials to refugees and concentration camp inmates

Armée Juive-Jewish underground army in France

Assembly of Cardinals-Organization of French Cardinals

BBC-British Broadcasting Company

Canada-Place in concentration camp to store possessions stripped from victims gassed by the Germans; the name of the group of inmates assigned to stripping dead bodies of valuables

Committee of Coordination of Nȋmes-Organization of Christians and Jews to assist the refugees in France; also known as Committee of Nȋmes

École Nouvelle Cévenol- Secondary school for boys and girls created in 1939 as a bastion of international, pacifist Protestantism, and later, a place to hide Jewish children

Einsatzgruppen-SS paramilitary death squads ordered by Hitler to kill all Jews, Communists, and Commissars in the Soviet Union

Emergency Rescue Committee-Committee in New York set up to save Jewish artists, intellectuals, and well-known German political figures; sent Varian Fry to France to effectuate rescues

Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities

Free French Forces-deGaulle army-in-exile in London and later, in Europe after D-Day

Free French Radio-deGaulle’s radio in London broadcasting into France

Gestapo-Geheime Staatspolizei, the Secret State Police of Nazi Germany

Jewish Brigade-Unit of the British Army fighting in Europe, composed of Palestine Jews

Jewish Scouts-Organization of Jewish boys to protect them and have them assist other children in danger from the Nazis

L’Université Libre-French underground publication detailing all the arrests and activities of the German occupiers.

Luftwaffe-German Air Force

MACE- Maison d’Accueil Chrétienne pour Enfants (Christian Children’s Home), set up by the Committee of Nȋmes

Marcel Network-Organized by Marcel Abadi and Odette Rosenstock to rescue, hide, and guide Jews to freedom in France

Milice-Special French police unit, organized by the Vichy government, to assist the German SS in arresting Jews and combatting the Résistance

New French Republic-Official name of Pétain’s Vichy government regime

Organisation de Secours Aux Enfants (OSE)-Organization to bring Jewish Children in Europe to the United States, supported by Eleanor Roosevelt

PCF-Communist Résistance in France

Protestant Federation of France-Assembly of Protestant Ministers

RAF-British Royal Air Force

Résistance (in italicized format)-The underground propaganda newspaper

Résistance (in its capitalized, non-italicized form)-The French underground fighting the German occupiers and French collaborators

Service du travail Obligatoire (STO) -Decree for forced labor in Germany for Frenchmen; units of forced labor

Sisters of Notre Dame Sion-Convent in Marseille helping save Jews from deportation

Sisters of Santa Clotilde-Convent in Lyon, France, hiding Jews

Sixième-Intelligence unit of the Résistance

SS-Schutzstaffel-Agency of surveillance and terror within Germany and the occupied territories

State Department (of the United States)-Equivalent of foreign ministry in other nations

Third Reich-Hitler’s regime in Germany

Third Republic-Last democratic government of France before the Vichy government regime

U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps-One of the Army units assigned to hunt down German war criminals in Europe

UGIF-Union Generale de Israelites de France, council of Jewish leaders, set up by the SS as a means of controlling and identifying the Jews

Unitarian Service Committee-Sent representatives Waitstill and Martha Sharp to Europe to help refugees in Czechoslovakia, and then France, to escape Europe

Vichy Police-Federal police of the Vichy government

Wehrmacht-Regular German Army

World Jewish Congress of Switzerland-Investigated and reported to the world on Nazi atrocities during World War II

Zionists-Political and cultural organization of Jews supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine

Heroes Or Villians?

Oh, the last time I saw Paris,

her heart was warm and gay,

no matter how they change her,

I’ll remember her that way

From The Last Time I Saw Paris, Jerome Kern, composer; Oscar Hammerstein, lyricist

Preface

Édouard Daladier recently assumed the premiership of France after the short reign of the Jew, Leon Blum. On the British side, Anthony Eden, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, resigned over what he perceived as a total appeasement of Hitler by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Lord Halifax, a known friend and appeaser of Hitler, took over the British Foreign Office, thus eliminating an important source of caution on dealing with or trusting Hitler. Daladier had no such illusions about Hitler, but he also knew France was in no position to confront Germany alone, that is, without British support. But the French premier did not plan to sit on his hands either. He ordered a total mobilization of the French armed forces. Also, Roosevelt had promised France one hundred modern fighter planes to be produced in America. Daladier knew from his air chief that, as things now stood, the obsolete French biplanes were no match for Germany’s modern Messerschmitt fighter aircraft.

So it was that Daladier and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, rushed to Munich to meet with Hitler on September 29, 1938. It was the culmination of many meetings with the intransigent and volcanic Hitler. They agreed to the meeting in Munich because of a deliberately misleading moderate and conciliatory letter Hitler sent to Chamberlain. The German dictator had baited the line and Chamberlain bit, sweeping in the French premier along the way. At the meeting, however, there was no conciliatory Hitler but a ranting and raving one. He wore both leaders down, obtaining most of what he what he wanted—the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia and more. Hitler insisted that the Czechs not attend the negotiations nor he did not permit any input from them.

Neville Chamberlain, coming home from the Munich meeting elated, became best known for his famous—or infamous―utterance with these words about that meeting: My good friends, a prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time, proving himself to be one of the worst prognosticators in modern history. Not many months later Hitler, confident that neither France nor Britain would act, broke his promises and invaded and occupied all of Czechoslovakia. And Hitler was right, so after eleven months, he took the next step, he started World War II. The name Chamberlain thus became synonymous with appeasement and naiveté. Daladier was more of a realist and never really had any illusions of peace in our time. He knew France was ill-prepared for war and if giving the Czech Republic to Hitler was the price for obtaining the time to re-arm, so be it; his job, after all, required him to look out for the interests of the French, not the Czechs. On his return to France from that Munich meeting, citizens cheered Daladier as a hero and the French Assembly approved the agreement overwhelmingly. But Daladier knew better and considered those who cheered him, thinking that a permanent peace had been achieved by accommodating Hitler, were fools, and he would include in that group, his co-negotiator, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his Nazi-loving foreign minister, Lord Halifax.

One only had to look at recent history when Britain and France sat on their hands while Mussolini had attacked Ethiopia; while Hitler then had marched unopposed into the Rhineland; while giving military support to the fascist dictator Franco in the Spanish Civil War and thereafter; while Hitler’s troops had marched into Austria. So no, the people in the know were not surprised by the failure of France and Britain to stand up to Hitler.

Nor was much done by Britain or France when Hitler had started persecuting the Jews who, desperate to escape Austria and Germany, besieged the foreign embassies for visas. At least one politician, President Roosevelt, had been inspired to call a meeting to help Jewish refugees, a conference held at Evian-les-Bain in July 1938. The conference resulted in total futility since no country, including Britain, France, and the United States, had been willing to make any significant changes to their immigration laws to accept—and possibly save—those Jews. But France did far worse to the Jews escaping to its territory by kicking them out when it could and incarcerating them when it could not.

Jews in Germany and Austria, having no choice, had fled over the border to nearby France, causing the French government to complain that France had reached the saturation point. Chamberlain took a similar position, warning that accepting more Jews in England would create the serious danger of arousing anti-Semitic feeling in Great Britain. Having already permitted Hitler to have