Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris (58 page)

  1
“hundreds of marriage proposals”
A.A.P. correspondent,
Sydney Morning Herald
, March 20, 1946.

  2
“It is very simple”
AN 334, AP 65, 4458.

  3
“I have detected them”
Ibid.

  4
“How did you get rid” … “My client”
PC, 183–184.

  5
“He was served”
John V. Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
(New York: Zebra Books, 1980), 305–306. Jean-Marc Varaut finishes the words of his friend Floriot in
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
(Paris: Balland 1974), 222.

  6
“Simonin, or under his real name”
Leser wanted an investigation into Yonnet’s allegations.
Vérification
, March 28, 1946, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

  7
“Shut up” … “minister of Pétain”
PC, 184–186. For a different wording of Véron, see Jean-François Dominique,
L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 208.

  8
“What are the names of the people”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 202.

  9
“Oh, you know”
Ibid.

10
“At [Chalon-sur-Saône]”
PC, 186.

11
“cloak and dagger novel”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 160–161.

12
“It was the famous Jodkum”
Ibid., 162.

13
“What about the bodies” … “Oh, no!”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 202–203.

14
One journalist noticed Chicago Daily Tribune
, March 20, 1946.

15
“You know well” … “I should hope so”
PC, 187.

16
I AM NOT IN DANGER
L’Aurore
, March 20, 1946.

17
“What about me?” … “What, are you bored?”
PC, 191; Bertin
Les assassins hors-série
, 166.

18
“a demon” New York Herald Tribune
(international edition), March 20, 1946.

19
“the guillotine is too swift”
Ibid.

  1
“calm and dignity”
René Nézondet,
Petiot “le Possédé”
(Paris: Express, 1950), 152. Gollety investigates the author of the
New York Herald Tribune
article, May 9, 1946, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° IV.

  2
“the expert in clandestine passages”
PC, 192–193.

  3
“an affliction I don’t care to name”
 … 
“any more than you have seen”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 207.

  4
“You are forgetting that Argentina” … “Do you respect”
PC, 193–197.

  5
“What gave you the right”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 210.

  6
“If there had been”
Ibid.

  7
the towering stack of evidence started Paris-Matin
, March 21, 1946.

  8
he joked
Ibid.

  9
“The Wolffs were Jews” … “If Kahan had sent”
PC, 198.

10
“What about the Schonkers?” … “Why didn’t you”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 211.

11
“never been more amused”
Jean-François Dominique,
L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 197.

  1
“four hundred prostitutes”
John V. Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
(New York: Zebra Books, 1980), 314.

  2
“If he’s a Jew”
Jean-Marc Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
(Paris: Balland 1974), 247.

  3
Nézondet’s allegation
René Nézondet,
Petiot “le Possédé”
(Paris: Express, 1950), 73–74.

  4
“an informer of the” … “Dreyfus was”
PC, 202.

  5
“Petiot ranted, roared, stamped” Sydney Morning Herald
, March 23, 1944.

  6
“Yes … he was” Combat
, March 22, 1946.

  7
“ ‘Was’ is the operative word”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 214.

  8
“Those must be” … “You could have”
PC, 202–204; Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 181–182.

  9
Dupin stood Le Pays
, March 22, 1946.

10
“I do not know if it is”
Associated Press, March 22, 1946.

11
“face of a kindly boxer” France Soir
, March 22, 1946.

12
a rainy Friday Le Pays
, March 23, 1946.

13
wooden barricades
Associated Press, March 22, 1946.

14
Other people looked out L’Aube
, March 23, 1946.

15
from Place Dauphine
Report, March 25, 1946, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

16
“enlightened justice”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 217.

17
“a strange conglomeration” Time
, April 1, 1946.

18
“the leprous walls” Le Figaro
, March 23, 1946.

19
“Where is the viewer?” … “Stories like this”
PC, 207–209.

20
“It is here at the bottom” … “half a corpse”
Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
, 319.

21
“This sack is”
PC, 210.

22
“This is truly incredible”
Ibid. Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 219.

23
rugby scrum L’Aurore
, March 23, 1946.

24
“Do you want to see the boiler?”
Dominique Jean-François,
L’affaire Petiot: Médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 211, and house invaded,
L’Aube
, March 23, 1946.

25
“human shin bones” Le Pays
, March 23, 1946.

26
“Death to the assassin!” L’Aurore
, March 23, 1946.

  1
“It is absurd”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10.
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
. Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967, 191.

  2
“Did you find any”
PC, 210.

  3
“No, we did not”
Ibid.

  4
“Why do these civil servants” Le Figaro
, March 23, 1946.

  5
Although he had not
Georges Massu,
L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle
(Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 245, 247–250, 253–254.

  6
“I can assert” … “Who is the criminal”
PC, 213–215.

  7
“Yet you have”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 197.

  8
“how many” Paris-Matin
, March 25, 1946;
L’Aurore
, March 25, 1946.

  9
“completely unknown”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 199.

10
“an adventurer without scruple”
Jean-Marc Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
(Paris: Ballard, 1974), 213.

11
“Before he accused Petiot”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 226–227.

12
“the Parisian newspapers continue”
PC, 216–217. One example of such a photograph is
Paris-Matin
, March 23, 1946.

13
“thin as an umbrella”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 227.

14
With quivering voice St. Petersburg Times
, March 26, 1944.

15
“You are very intelligent” … “render us invisible”
PC, 219–223. Cadoret de l’Epinguen elaborated his points in a series of interviews and police reports from December 1944, in APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VI.

16
Robert Malfet Liberation-Soir
, January 27, 1945, and a report of January 12, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VI.

17
“The mad doctor”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 232. Petiot scoffing is in
Paris-Matin
, March 26, 1946.

18
“his secretary”
Report, December 13, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VI.

19
“He had black stains”
AN, 334, AP 65, 3365–3366.

20
“It’s very important”
PC, 224.

21
“Will we have the pleasure”
Ibid.

  1
“grit its teeth” Le Pays
, March 27, 1946.

  2
“one hundred bony pieces” … “globular” L’Ordre
, March 27, 1945, APP, Série EA, carton n° 181.

  3
The latter included … “very mummified”
Dérobert, Paul,
et
Piédelièvre, Report, January 10, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

  4
“We were able to conclude”
PC, 226.

  5
“No, not a scrap”
Paul was referring to his section,
“Examen des cheveux et des poils,”
in Report, January 10, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

  6
“Five were men, five women”
AN 334, AP 65, 3323.

  7
“We can say that these”
AN, Ibid.

  8
“Not a single” … “Pardon me”
PC, 226–227.

  9
“putrefied and damaged” … “diptera and coleoptera”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 235. Elaboration about the seven tubes of insects as well as the musca, muscina, ophyra, calliphoridae, drosophilidae, phoridae, piophilidae, and others is in “Rapport entomologique” inside Dérobert, Paul,
et
Piédelièvre, Report, January 10, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

10
“Yes, you know” L’Aurore
, March 27, 1946.

11
Petiot agreed and invited himself Paris-Matin
, March 27, 1946.

12
“that does not mean” … “It would have been easy”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 212–213.

13
“That’s only a hypothesis” … “I see”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 235–236, PC, 228–229.

14
“I have examined”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 213.

15
“fully responsible” … “His thesis received”
PC, 229.

16
“ ‘mediocre’ in dissection”
The laughter following this statement was noted by the Reuters correspondent, March 28, 1944.

17
“She is in good health”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 214.

18
“Sorry, but Petiot”
Ibid.

19
Rougemont detected
AN, 334, AP 65, 3380–3384.

20
“Monsieur de Rougemont is”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 215.

21
“If we had asked”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 238.

22
Petiot’s Resistance credentials
In 2010, when the CIA declassified thousands of documents from the secretive American semi-private espionage group known as the Pond, the media widely reported that Petiot had in fact been one of its informers. This was a suggestion first made by the organization’s leader, John V. Grombach, and it is not impossible. The problem is that, even with the new documents thus far released, there is still no verifiable evidence of his work as an informer. The new files contain “no reference to Petiot,” except for a short, two- or three-sentence “summary of a report about conviction.” E-mail to author from Mark Stout, author of a forthcoming book on the Pond.

23
“Organized Resistance has never”
Dewavrin to Marcel Jullian,
Le Mystère Petiot
(Paris: Edition No. 1, 1980), 153. See also Dupin’s theory that Fly-Tox was the name the British used for an individual and Petiot merely adopted it, AN, 334 AP, 65, 3352.

24
“I refuse to tell you” … “Obviously”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 217.

25
doubtful
Reuters, for example, March 27, 1946.

26
“Monsieur Ibarne”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 240; PC, 232;
L’Aurore
describes Petiot as showing extreme anger at this witness, March 27, 1946.

27
“On the contrary”
PC, 232.