ETAT MAJOR ALLEMAND EN FRANCE: OTAGES ET EXECUTIONS, RG M, Acc A.0100

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "ETAT MAJOR ALLEMAND EN FRANCE: OTAGES ET EXECUTIONS, RG M, Acc A.0100"

Milton Cox
5 years ago
Views:

1 ETAT MAJOR ALLEMAND EN FRANCE: OTAGES ET EXECUTIONS, RG M, Acc A.0100 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC Tel. (202) e mail: reference@ushmm.org Descriptive summary Title: Etat major allemand en France: otages et executions. Dates: Accession number: 1998.A.0100, RG M. Creator: Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich. Extent: 5 microfilm reels. Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC Abstract: The collection documents the development and application of hostage and reprisal policies in occupied France under the military administration and the SS. Languages: German, French. Administrative Information Access: Collection is open for use, but may be stored offsite. Please contact the Reference Desk more than seven days prior to visit in order to request access Reproduction and use: Collection is available for use. Material may be protected by copyright. Please contact reference staff for further information. Preferred citation: (Identification of item), Etat major allemand en France: otages et executions, RG M, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC Acquisition information: Microfilm copies obtained from the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC) of the Mémorial de la Shoah, 1998.

2 Custodial history: The collection was acquired by Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC) after In January 1956 it was microfilmed as part of a joint project with Yad Vashem, and in 1998 copies of those reels were refilmed for USHMM as part of the International Archives Project. Existence and location of originals: Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine Mémorial de la Shoah 17, rue Geoffroy l Asnier Paris FRANCE tel. +33 (0) Accruals: Accruals may have been received since this collection was first processed, see archives catalog at collections.ushmm.org for further information. Processing history: Joel Horowitz, August Administrative history The German military authorities in occupied France were headed by the Militarbefehlshaber in Frankreich (MBF), and in each military district by a Bezirkchef under whom Feldkommandenten and other more local officials administered smaller areas. The administration under the MBF was further divided at each of those levels between the command staff (Kommandostab), which managed the reserve battalions (Landesschutzen) and the secret field police (Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP)), and the administrative staff (Militarverwaltungsstab (MVA)) which handled most other kinds of work. The structure of the MBF was roughly as follows: Militarbefehlshaber in Frankreich (MBF)(Alfred Streccius, Otto von Stülpnagel, and Carl Heinrich von Stülpnagel) o Kommandostab (Hans Speidel) Propaganda Intelligence Secret Field Police (GFP) o Verwaltungsstab (MVA)(Jonathan Schmid) Abteilung Verwaltung (Werner Best) Internal Government Police *German Property Finance Justice Propaganda o Bezirkchef

3 Bezirk A., St. Germain en Laye (Nordwestfrankreich): 14 Feldkommandenten Bezirk B, Angers: 9 Feldkommandenten Bezirk C, Dijon: 10 Feldkommandenten Bezirk Bordeaux: 3 Feldkommandenten Bezirk der Gross Paris: 2 Feldkommandenten Hostage policy was first established in September 1940 by then MBF General Alfred Streccius through a memorandum on Measure to Prevent Sabotage permitting Bezirkchefs to arrest hostages and threaten to execute them in the event of hostile acts on the part of the population if suitable alternatives were not available, although only the MBF could authorize the execution itself. After General Otto von Stülpnagel replaced Streccius in Oct. 1940, he further developed the policy in March 1941 in a memorandum reaffirming the policy and expanding the definition of anti German activity but generally urging restraint in the usage of hostages. Alongside this memorandum, the MVA s department of justice issued guidelines directing that executions take place only for crimes following the arrest of the hostage and the publicizing of the hostage policy as well as that any hostages be French. Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941, the security situation began to deteriorate and worsened further with the banning of the French communist party in the German zone in mid August. On August 22 nd 1941, it was decreed after a series of shootings that all French prisoners in German prisons or in French prisons at German request would be considered hostages. In the months that followed, the MBF came increasingly into conflict with Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht (OKW) Wilhelm Keitel as well as with Hitler over their criticism of what they deemed an overly moderate reprisal policy. In February 1942, Otto von Stülpnagel finally resigned as MBF over the reprisal issue and on February 16 th was replaced by his cousin, Carl Heinrich von Stülpnagel, while at the same time Keitel began planning to transfer control over most security responsibilities in France to the SS. On 22 January 1942, Carl Obert was appointed Senior SS and Police Leader (Hoherer SS und Polizeifuhrer ) or HSSuPF for France, which subordinated Helmut Knochen s existing post as Commander of the Security Police and SD in France (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD) or BdS Frankreich. This was formalized by Hitler in March, with Obert assuming his post June 1 st. Additionally, on April 6 th 1942, the SS reached an agreement with the Wehrmacht which limited the latter s enforcement role in the occupied territories to the protection of military personnel and installations from foreign agents, making these the only cases it could investigate or prosecute. The SS took on the more general role of collecting intelligence on and pursuing foreign agents. Under Obert, most GFP units in France were demobilized and many of their members incorporated into the SS, largely replacing the military police. He also gained greater authority over the French police.

4 On the whole, the HSSuPF ordered fewer formal hostage executions, although there were several very large reprisals including those on August 11 th and September 21 st This was largely because of preference of the SS for large scale night and fog (Nacht und Nebel) deportations, which led to far more deaths than formal executions. Scope and content of collection The collection documents the development and application of hostage and reprisal policies in occupied France under the military authorities and later the SS. The development of hostage policy is described chiefly in the military, SS, and French government documents in XLVa 3 61 at the end of Reel 5, but also in XLV 1 at the end of Reel 3. The lists of hostages and executions often provide not only names and basic biographical information of them but also detailed information about how hostages came to hold that status. In addition to the hostage lists, there are also files on some of the larger reprisals in The collection primarily covers the year between the increase in resistance activity following the banning of the communist party in August 1941 and the major reprisals in the fall of 1942 following the shifting of responsibilities to the SS in early June of that year. System of arrangement Many of the original files incorporated into the collection were hostage lists and information about hostages from particular Feldkommandantur (FK). Every FK in Europe had a 3 digit identifying number, and these were apparently used in recordkeeping to organize information coming from each FK under the MBF as well as to refer to them in the documents themselves. Descriptions in the container list consisting of the phrase Hostage Lists followed by a place name were all originally files on hostages in particular FKs headquartered in that location. These include the entirety of Reel 2, part of Reel 3, and much of Reel 5. Because the main responsibility for hostage policy passed to the SS at the beginning of June 1942, most files in the collection stemming from particular FKs or group of FKs end in late May or early June of that year. Most of the FK files in the collection are from Bezirk A. SS documents and documents of the occupation administration at the MBF or Bezirk level used wholly different file numbering systems. The numbering on Reel 2, both of Cote XLIV and of the legacy reels on which it was originally filmed, is out of order. It is unclear where the first portion, listed as A D despite the fact that all four groupings are internally identified as divided into enumerated categories including A, B, C, and D, properly fits into the sequence. Most likely that error stems from something that occurred during the first filming in the 1950s. But since all four parts of Reel 2 were originally distinct FK files, their arrangement with respect to each other should not make any significant difference.

5 Cote XLV was filmed out of sequence, with Nos. 7 9 being placed at the start of Reel 3 when they properly belong at the end of Reel 4. The last part of Reel 5, containing Cote XLVa Nos was filmed improperly. The early part of this section is overexposed to the point of illegibility, so the CDJC staff apparently refilmed the entire section and tacked the second take onto the end of the same reel immediately after the first. Users reaching the JM/563/3: XLVa 3 61 part of Reel 5 should immediately skip ahead to the next break in the reel where it restarts at XLVa 3 in much better quality. Title of collection used is that applied by the source repository, to denote selected records they obtained after the war, which had originated from various military and SS offices in occupied France. Indexing terms Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich. France History German occupation, World War, Hostages France. World War, Atrocities. CONTAINER LIST Reel Cote No. Description 1 1 XLIII 1 4 Hostages (Hostage Lists); Sep Mar XLIII 5 12 Hostages (Expiatory Shootings); Oct May XLIII Hostages (Hostage Lists); Oct Jun XLIII Sabotage of the Railroads near Caen (Arrest of Railway Workers in Reprisal for the Attack near Caen); May Jun XLIV A D Hostages (Hostage Lists) Melun; Sep Jun XLIV Hostages (Hostage Lists) Amiens; Sep May XLIV 2 26 Hostages (Hostage Lists) Laon; Sep May XLIV 1 Hostages (Hostage Lists) Orleans; Sep Jun XLV 7 Hostages (Expiatory Victims); Aug Jul XLV 8 9 Hostages (Shootings from ); Sep. Nov XLV 1 Hostages (Expiatory Shootings General); Aug May XLV 2 Hostages (Expiatory Shootings, Hostage Lists); Apr. Sep XLV 3 Hostages (Hostage Lists) Rouen; Feb. Apr XLV 4 Hostages (Admission of Expiatory Victims into Camp Romainville); Sep. Oct. 1942

6 4 XLV 5 Hostages (Shootings of 11. August Communist Terrorists); Aug Jan XLV 6 Hostages (Hostage Lists, Shot Expiatory Victims, 11. August 1942); Aug XLVa 1 Hostages (Hostage Shootings) Charleville; Sep May XLVa 2 Hostages (Hostage Shootings) St. Cloud; Sep May XLVa 3 61 Hostages and Miscellaneous (Circulars and Letters of the MBF and BdS Concerning Retaliatory Measures); Mar Oct. 1943

ROBERT AND LOUISE BRUNNER PAPERS,

ROBERT AND LOUISE BRUNNER PAPERS, 1901-1956 2002.152 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: reference@ushmm.org