Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris (54 page)

  1
According to one
Gestapo report, May 8, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

  2
Jodkum
Jodkum or Jodkun is usually called director of IV B-4. He was not. The leader of IV B-4, at this time, was SS First Lieutenant Heinz Röthke, who assumed duties in July 1942 from Theodor Dannecker. Background on Jodkum comes from captured Gestapo records and interviews at CDJC, XCVI Service allemand anti-juif en France, and Service IVB-4, particularly the testimony of Kurt Schendel and Henri Jalby on B.d.s. IV 4 b.

  3
Although also nominally
See particularly Henri Joseph Jalby testimony at CDJC, “Service Jodkun” XCVI, 58–62, 76 as well as Grégory Auda,
Les belles années du “milieu” 1940–1944
and
Le grand banditisme dans la machine répressive allemande en France
(Paris: Éditions Michalon, 2002), note 1, 109.

  4
“contraband of persons”
Report, Sipo (SD) KD Paris, IV E 2a15016, May 22, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

  5
Dreyfus was a thirty-five-year
Der Kommendeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in Paris, Tgb. Nr. V B1—4065/44, June 23, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

  6
“I am a Frenchman”
AN 334, AP 65, 4434.

  7
at Montpellier
Report, October 7, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

  8
“hotel or a doctor’s office”
Gestapo report, May 8, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

  9
The organization under scrutiny
Gestapo report, May 21, 1943, and forwarded to the French police, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

10
“The management”
Ibid.

11
“remarkably efficient”
Gestapo report, May 21, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

12
“unexpected costs”
AN 334, AP 65, 4439–4440.

13
signing two important documents
AN 334, AP 65, 4398–9.

14
By this time
Guélin had prepared the way for three months of work, according to hairdresser Raoul Fourrier. AN 334, AP 65, 4403.

15
“We climbed a dirty, dark”
Gestapo report, May 14, 1943, printed in Jacques Perry and Jane Chabert,
L’affaire Petiot
(Paris: Gallimard, 1957), 100.

16
counted as numerous
Report, Sipo (SD) KD Paris, IV E 2a15016, May 22, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

17
Once this was accomplished
Gestapo report, May 21, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

18
“the doctor showed it”
Gestapo report, May 16, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

19
“thirty-five to thirty-eight”
VM-X report to Gestapo, May 18, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

20
serial numbers I
bid.

21
He ordered his
Report, Sipo (SD) KD Paris, IV E 2a15016, May 22, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

22
They also arrested
Der Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, Tgb. Nr. V B1—4065/44, June 23, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

23
“a den of murderers”
Hans Bernd Gisevius,
To the Bitter End: An Insider’s Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler, 1933–1944
, foreword by Allen W. Dulles, translated by Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), 50.

24
“with his hand”
Ibid.

25
“three days and two nights”
Alomée Planel,
Docteur Satan ou l’affaire Petiot
(Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, 1978), 191.

26
“the bath”
Jacques Delarue,
Trafics et crimes sous l’occupation
(Paris: Fayard, 1968), 42.

27
Sometimes prisoners
Edward Crankshaw,
The Gestapo: Instrument of Tyranny
(New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1994),128–129, based on the evidence amassed by the French prosecuting counsel at Nuremberg.

28
“running a prisoner”
Cooks on the second floor complained of the screams from the interrogation rooms on the fifth. Jacques Delarue,
The Gestapo: A History of Horror
, translated by Mervyn Savill (New York: Paragon House, 1987), 234–236.

29
“June 1943” … “Vive le fin”
Henri Calet,
Les Murs de Fresnes
(Paris: Editions des Quatre Vents, 1945), 29, 57, 25, 53.

30
“a pitiful sight”
René Nézondet,
Petiot “le Possédé”
(Paris: Express, 1950), 59.

31
According to his confession
Nr IV-B Report, Le Chef de la Sû reté et du SD en France, June 11, 1943, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

32
“All I knew”
Ibid.

33
“I never saw”
Ibid.

34
The file in front of Massu
The Gestapo rarely released prisoners, that is, except to a German tribunal, a concentration camp, or at least a French prison. For more, see Jacques Delarue,
The Gestapo
, 241–242.

35
to “turn” prisoner
A tactic described, for instance, from an Abwehr perspective, in Oscar Reile,
L’Abwehr: Le contre-espionnage allemand en France
, preface by Colonel Rémy (Paris: Éditions France-Empire, 1970), 281–282.

36
in return for 100,000 francs
This was confirmed by a man attached to Jodkum in the Gestapo office, Henri Jalby, in an undated report, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

  1
On September 27, 1940
Serge Klarsfeld,
Le Calendrier de la persécution des juifs de France 1940–1944
(Paris: Fayard, 2001), I, 26–28.
“Enterprise juive”
comes from paragraph 4 of this law.

  2
The following month
For more, see Susan Zuccotti,
The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews
(New York: Basic Books, 1993), 56–64, and Michael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton,
Vichy France and the Jews
(New York: Basic Books, Publishers, 1981), 75–114.

  3
In early May 1941
Serge Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz
(Paris: Fayard, 1983), 15–18. Klarsfeld also shows the breakdown into Polish, Czech, and former Austrian Jews, and by arrondissement.

  4
Three months later
Klarsfeld,
Vichy-Auschwitz
, 25–27.

  5
As Gouedo explained
Jean Gouedo declaration, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I. See also his interrogation, March 23, 1944 in carton n° III.

  6
On January 2
Renée Guschinow,
Audition
, March 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

  7
“I have arrived” … “sell all [her] belongings”
Renée Guschinow,
Audition
, March 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III. AN 334, AP 65, 3372–3373.

  8
Marcel Petiot had purchased
Robert Sens-Olive,
Audition
, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II, and report March 24, 1944, in carton n° I.

  9
Jean Minaud … said
Jean Minaud,
Audition
, March 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

10
“electric transformer”
Gaston Dethève,
Audition
, March 23, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

11
“Aryanized”
For more on Aryanization, see note to page 13.

12
Porchon, tempted
Roland Porchon,
Audition
, March 17, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

13
“the King of the Gangsters”
Roland Porchon,
Audition
, March 17, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

14
“sixteen corpses stretched out” … “I suppose he asked them”
Ibid.

15
“He didn’t seem” … “forgotten about it”
René Bouygues,
Audition
, March 19, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III; Lucien Doulet,
Audition
, April 24, 1944; also in Jean-François Dominique,
L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 105–107.

16
even after fireman
Avilla Boudringhin,
Audition
, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

17
“At no point”
Joseph Teyssier,
Audition
, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

18
Fillion supported
Emile Fillion,
Audition
, March 17, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

19
evidence was mounting
For instance, Roger Berody,
Audition
, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III, and on the following day, additional confirmation from eyewitnesses Robert Bouquin and Maurice Choquat, also in carton n° III.

20
“the brother of the owner”
Emile Fillion,
Audition
, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

21
Teyssier also now acknowledged
Joseph Tessyier,
Audition
, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III. Newspapers later covered the story—for instance,
Le Cri du Peuple
, April 7 and 14, 1944, and
Paris-Soir
, April 13, 1944.

22
“At that moment”
Emile Fillion,
Audition
, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

23
jumping out of a window
Luc Rudolph (coordination),
Au coeur de la Préfecture de police: de la résistance à la liberation. 2e Partie. La Préfecture de police: une résistance oubliée 1940–1944
(Paris: 2010), 56.

  1
“verbal trance [that] gave free rein”
Brassaï,
Conversations with Picasso
, translated by Jane Marie Todd (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 200.

  2
“humor and inexhaustible spirit of invention”
Ibid.

  3
As the play ended
Maurice Toesca,
Cinq ans de patience 1939–1944
(Paris: É. Paul, 1975) 220–221.

  4
“A year before”
Simone de Beauvoir,
The Prime of Life
, translated by Peter Green (London: Penguin Books, 1988), 569.

  5
“We constituted”
Simone de Beauvoir,
The Prime of Life
, 575.

  6
“filled with the joy”
Ibid.

  7
Fourrier appeared nervous
Georges Massu,
L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle
(Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 160–161.

  8
Fourrier told
Raoul Fourrier,
Audition
, March 19, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

  9
“the doctor is a charming” … “nice commission”
Massu,
L’enquête Petiot
, 163.

10
“Jo la Ric”
Raoul Fourrier,
Nouvelle Audition
, March 19, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III. “Iron Arm Jo” or “Iron Arm Géo” were often reported, for instance, in
Le Matin
, March 27, 1944.

11
“no choirboy”
Massu,
L’enquête Petiot
, 169.

12
Hesse
Chamberlin,
Audition
, September 8, 1944, BDIC, Fonds Delarue, F° Delta RES 787 4.

13
“discretion, efficiency”
Philippe Aziz,
Tu Trahiras sans vergogne. Histoire de deux ‘collabos’ Bonny et Lafont
(Paris: Fayard, 1970), 76.

14
“François the Corsican”
A police report from Lyon described him as a “dangerous individual,” April 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

15
“dark-haired and elegant”
Ibid.

16
“La Poute”
Report, April 17, 1944; APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

17
“difficult, even impossible”
Massu,
L’enquête Petiot
, 168.

18
“gave him the chills”
Paul Georges Jobert,
Audition
, March 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

19
François the Corsican went first
Many writers, including Massu later in his memoirs (page 168), mistakingly make Jo depart first.

20
at the end of October 1942
APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

21
an estimated 1.4 million
Paul Georges Jobert,
Audition
, March 21, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

22
“Really, did you not” … Massu, after the interview, felt
Massu,
L’enquête Petiot
, 168–169.

23
network Vengeance
Some of its exploits are in François Wetterwald,
Vengeance: Histoire d’un corps franc
(1946), Victor Dupont’s memoir
Témoignages
, and the archive on the organization Wetterwald donated to the BDIC. See also the website Turma Vengeance, at chantran.vengeance.free.fr.

24
“set Europe ablaze”
M. R. D. Foot,
SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940–1944
(Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, Inc., 1984), 11.

25
Section DF was smuggling
M.R.D. Foot,
SOE in France
, 94.

26
British Military Intelligence Section 9 (MI 9)
M. R. D. Foot and J. M. Langley,
MI9: Escape and Evasion 1939–1945
(Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1980).

27
not least in
Raising morale was another important consequence, a “marvellous effect” in the words of Airey Neave in
Saturday at M.I.9
(London: Hodder, 1969), 20.

28
at least 313 Jews
Susan Zuccotti,
The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews
(New York: Basic Books, 1993), 257.

29
Smugglers had long
See Lisa Fittko,
Escape Through the Pyrenees
, translated by David Koblick (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991) as
well as the works by Émilienne Eychenne, such as
Montagnes de la peur et de l’espérance: Le franchissement de la frontière espagnole pendant la seconde guerre mondiale dans le département des Hautes Pyrénées
(Paris: Édouard Private, 1980) and
Les Pyrénées de la liberté
(Paris: France—Empire, 1983).

30
“the people of the port”
Daniel Judah Elazar and Peter Medding,
Jewish Communities in Frontier Societies: Argentina, Australia, and South Africa
(New York: Holmes & Meier, 1983), 67. See also Robert Weisbrot,
The Jews of Argentina: From the Inquisition to Péron
(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979).

31
“The federal government”
Haim Avni,
Argentina and the Jews
, trans. Gila Brand (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1991), 9.

32
“deny visas” … “uncorrupted”
Uki Goñi,
The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón’s Argentina
(London: Granta Books, 2003), 28–37.

33
“Monsieur le commissaire” … “I am unable”
Massu,
L’enquête Petiot
, 170–174.

34
Pintard would eventually say
Edmond Pintard,
Audition
, March 20, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III, and another one on March 22, 1944, also in carton n° III.