Our best years ("nos plus belles années')
The French underworld at the service of the Nazi occupier
(Script of the program “Witnesses of the Age”, Patrick Pesnot, France Inter, 1998)
“Was there a “French Gestapo”? » (Claude Bourdet)
Patrick Pesnot – Hello everyone, dear listeners, and thank you for joining us for this new issue of “Witnesses of the Age”, devoted this evening to a very obscure, although fascinating subject – even if it brings us back to what has now become commonplace to call the saddest hours in our history. A somewhat special show tonight, too,
because I have around me not one, but three guests – and guests of choice. First there is Mr. Philippe Robert, director of research emeritus at the Center for Sociological Research on Law and penal institutions at the University of Versailles.
Philippe Robert – Good evening, Mr. Pesnot.
P. Pesnot – Good evening, dear sir. Let us specify for our auditors that your institution is specializing in the study of relations between society and delinquents of all stripes, whether you are yourself a recognized sociologist, doctor of the University of Bordeaux, and that you collaborate for a long time with – among other institutions – the Ministry of Justice. In in front of you, Mr. Robert Stan Pratsky, a well-known specialist in the Second World War and everything related to the underworld “milieu”. We owe him in particular works exciting, which I urge you to read, on the underside of the operations in Provence and general on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Robert Stan Pratsky – Good evening, dear sir.
PP- Good evening. Finally, we have a third guest, quite exceptional but of whom I do not can't give you the real identity. We will call him Monsieur Raymond. Mr. Raymond, good evening.
Mr. Raymond – Good evening, Mr. Pesnot.
PP – Mr. Raymond is an exceptional guest, because he knew well – and very closely – the topic of tonight's show: relations between French criminal circles and Germany
Nazi during the Occupation. Relationships which, we will see, were anything but anecdotal. But first, a brief summary of the situation, so that things be clear. On June 14, 1940, as we all know, alas, the Wehrmacht, Hitler's army enters Paris. What is the objective of the German invader, apart from the fact to force into enslavement the hated adversary: France?
R.S. Pratsky – Well, dear Monsieur Pesnot, you should know that the German invasion of Western Europe, just like the majority of the conflicts that Berlin will subsequently trigger, responds to both economic and ideological considerations. In 1940 (and it will be truer from 1942), Germany is surrounded, stuck in a position that cutting off world trade, despite its European allies and the temporary benevolence of the USSR, in particular because of the domination exercised over the seas by the Royal Navy
and the Navy. The courage of the English and French leaders forcing him to continue a war that it imagined to be short, the Reich must, in order to hope to win, excessively plunder the occupied territories, whose populations will have to be repressed with energy. France, like other invaded countries, is therefore plundered! Confiscation of means of production, hunting down Jews, spoliation of their property, seizure of works of art, arrests and torture of the Resistance fighters... But for all this, the means are lacking, especially since these misdeeds do not will only get bigger over time!
PP- Yes. Germany must therefore find aid. Native auxiliaries, if I dared.
RSP – Absolutely. And this is how it was set up, with the significant help of an individual in particular – but among others, alas – an alliance of fortune, an evil alliance between
the Underworld and the Occupation, because of their converging interests in this matter.
PP – A real thriller! Which will generate many fantasies, films and books. We can cite Louis Malle, Laurent Heynemann, Claude Sautet… While in reality, basically, we still know very little about this economic collaboration and about the men who led it!
Ph. Robert – As you can imagine, the Middle – that of organized crime, of course – keeps only a little archives useful to the historian. However, this is not the case with Justice, which has retained, for his part, a certain number of files compiled at the Liberation – very thick files, I must say, that it is possible to consult under certain conditions. The Army also has archives, thanks to the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Action, the Second Bureau and the DGSS – but cannot be accessed.
PP – Why so?
Ph. R. – You should ask them! But anyway, one thing is clear: the Occupiers offered criminals the possibility of organizing offices at their service, kinds of subsidiaries. Dispensaries if you will, most often organized around of a charismatic leader, and whose imprint was to leave a lasting mark on French crime until our days. This hooliganism made it possible to train a whole generation of criminals, who later had a rich and fruitful career.
RSP – It should also be noted that these collaborations went well beyond simple relationships interpersonal relations between criminals. Organized crime contributed massively to the looting of the countries during the Occupation, and just as much to repression – with formidable efficiency, which is not unlike that of the so-called professional German services. It was quite logical that this integration worked as well – the Nazi Party being itself already a kind of gang divided into coteries, its members had experience in the matter!
PP – Precisely, it is rare that the bandits are united towards an objective. We imagine them more happy to compete! Mr. Raymond, you who experienced these events,
How do you explain that ?
M. Raymond – Hem… Today like yesterday, we must not see the milieu as a unique and hierarchical organization. A cloud, a nebula would be better. little ones
thugs to serious white-collar criminals, including bank robbers or even the crooked police, all act according to their own goals. With the arrival of Germans, a certain number of them naturally wondered spontaneously if there had no way of getting anything out of the defeat. Only, isolated, they did not weigh much. Naturally – even instinctively, without realizing it – they thus federated around several personalities well in court, who could at the same time serve protectors and leaders, or at least coordinators. This was especially the case with Pierre Bonny, Rue Lauriston and what will become most of SONEF – the Service d'Ordre du Nouvel Etat Français.
PP – La Carlingue. The one whose notebooks by Jean Martin, recently reissued, have enlightened operation.
Mr. Raymond – Absolutely. With a nuance, however. Unlike Jean Martin – a poor young man tossed about by circumstances, at least at the beginning of his career – or the authentic fascist supporters of Jacques Doriot, the rallying of the Milieu à the Occupation responded above all to pure economic opportunism. The holy war against
Communism, capitalism, Anglo-Saxons, Africans… very little for us – I mean, for them. Simply, they found that the Nazis were setting up a policy of looting, then considered it possible to take part in it to live well.
RPP – Even if it means allying with the Gestapo for this. Besides, the Gestapo, Mr. Pratsky, what was it exactly?
RSP – Popular memory has preserved the Epinal image of an omniscient secret police and centralized, whose terrifying assassins in raincoats methodically crisscrossed the
territory aboard powerful cars. The truth is more complex. Already, in reality, he absolutely not a single organization, but rather different organizations with different
different goals, each with unclear and tangled responsibilities, but that we have all grouped under a single term to represent their terrible efficiency conjugated. As I told you, the parallel with the Milieu is obvious. To simplify, say that the Secret State Police or Geheime Staatspolizei is globally the armed wing of the Nazi Party and its Occupied Territories Control Service: the ReichsSicherheitsHauptamt (Reich Central Security Office). Unlike other intelligence agencies Germans, she alone has the power of arrest. All other organizations must go through it for that. This gives him considerable power, but requires a lot of means.
PP – Sorry to interrupt you, but before continuing, a simple question: if the Gestapo is Nazi in its very nature, how is it possible for French people to make it party while pretending to be foreign to Hitler's ideas? Is it, in the subject that we occupied, of French Nazis?
M. Raymond – With your permission, I must specify that in terms of nationality, there were of all Rue Lauriston. Poles, North Africans, Italians… Even if, indeed,
the majority of the chefs were French.
RSP – And in fact of political orientation, I will answer – they were not Nazis, at least not to begin with. There is no unique profile for Collaborators. between member
member of a party and the one who writes an anonymous letter from time to time, there is a world. The German services recruited widely, on the promise of a ringing reward and stumbling – even if it was only Francs Laval – or on guarantee of protection. I am not afraid to state that I understand – even if I obviously do not approve of it –
the explanation of Monsieur Raymond, when he speaks of “vivre bien” thanks to the Occupier. Of sporting environment in the medical environment, from garages to night Paris, there were everywhere people to collaborate. Every part of society has had its lame ducks for various reasons. A lot out of profit, but very little out of conviction.
Ph. R. – Any retreat of the state is favorable to crime. War naturally entails creation of a “grey” economy. This is unfortunately a reality. And as we have sketched, the
Midfield played the invader card early on to thrive – just look at the number considerable number of common law prisoners released between 40 and 44 on the instructions of Occupants or their friends! Among them, very few politicians, no idealists. Of the predators or parasites – depending on each person's judgment. They chose a way of life
margin, which obeys their own codes, which prevail over those of the Company. Having already turned his back on this same society, notorious members of a singular class, it is natural that they did not feel very concerned by the ongoing conflict… I am afraid that your political interpretation, Mr. Pesnot, therefore has no place here. Except perhaps in concerns the few refractory to this evolution, the best known of which are the brothers Garneri – strong personalities from the Corso-Provençal milieu rallied to the Resistance, although for much more… personal reasons than mere Republican idealism.
M. Raymond – Yes – out of revenge, it must be said! Because at that time, the Garneri – as the others – only really respected the laws of the Middle: the duty of Silence, the requirement of Solidarity, the right of Vengeance, submission to the decisions of the Chief. And most of their… colleagues, who considered it obvious that Germany had won the war, did not see no longer any interest in even pretending to follow the principles of a Republic exiled to the south of the Mediterranean. So if the Germans offered them, in the interests of the Reich, of course, to expand their activities beyond what was tolerated before the conflict, and to rise, in doing so, above their marginal condition… well, the occasion was too good to refuse to take our revenge and gain access to the honors that had been denied to us until then. All have not played this card thoroughly, but some have not been deprived of it.
PP – Until sometimes taking the place of the police. But how many were there, gentlemen, these auxiliaries of the Occupiers? And how many, directly or indirectly, have joined SONEF?
Ph. R. – The figures vary, but overall it is estimated that 40 or 50,000 people number of those who once worked, more or less actively, for the Germans. As for SONEF, it is impossible for me to commit to a precise count, due to the large number of members… casual and hidden relationships, not to mention the destruction of many documents at the end of the war. Half, i.e. 20 or 25,000 people, seems to me a good approximation – even if a good part of them do not never wore the SONEF uniform! The Rue Lauriston Street , led by Bonny, in absorbed the largest part, thus becoming undoubtedly the most powerful of the dispensary of Collaborative criminals. This is what makes it so representative - as well as the fact that its leader knew how to navigate perfectly between the different German and French coteries of the Occupation. Pierre Bonny, alas, was a clever man, who understood that services they could render were of such great value that he could afford certain privileges.
PP – Fifty thousand active collaborators! This number is huge! But I allow myself to come back to the sociological aspect of these men, these criminals. You really value
that there were hardly any convinced Nazis among them? Allow me to doubt it!
Ph. R. – And yet… The sociological profile of criminals is often remarkable in similarity. If their social origin or the circumstances of their entry into the environment can
differ, they all stay there by choice. They are habitual criminals...
M. Raymond – “Enfants du malheur”, according to the formula.
Ph. R. – If you want. The criminal is therefore a professional recidivist, marginal and out of the national community. He and his companions form a universe apart, where the degrees implications range from the misguided awaiting redemption to a genuine public enemy. But all these people - who are not involved in politics - indeed go to the same places, go in the same bars, are incarcerated in the same prisons… fight over the same women and also the same sources of income. They therefore inevitably create links, and
spontaneously exclude all those who do not have the “codes” of the Middle. Of which of course the fascists. And it is this same unity of thought that has spontaneously led organized crime as a whole to understand that the Occupation gave him the opportunity to make the best deals of their careers… for a few favors to be rendered to the fascists in question.
M. Raymond – What we still call today “les plus belles années du Milieu”.
RSP - You didn't have to be a Reich supporter or an anti-Semite to join the Gestapo. Of even, it was not necessary to be from the Gestapo to mistreat the populations – and that also applied to the Germans.
PP – Mr. Pratsky, when did the Gestapo begin to crack down on the National territory ?
RSP – Well, surprisingly, relatively late, and after starting very small. Contrary to what happened during the Anschluss, then during the invasion of the Czechoslovakia or Poland, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht had obtained from Hitler that no civilian police force returns to France. The French metropolis was still a war zone – and would always be for the military command, despite the parody of the armistice signed by Laval. It was therefore entrusted to the Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, or MBF, of General Alfred Streccius. The reign of the latter, which had to essentially managing the end of the 1940 fighting, the takeover of the southern metropolis and finally the disarmament of the demobilized masses lasted only a few weeks. From the 25 August, Streccius was replaced by General Otto von Stülpnagel, who settled in the hotel
Majestic in Paris. In February 1942, Otto was replaced by Eberhardt von Mackensen, who held the reins a year before leaving for the Russian Front. Then it was the turn of Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (cousin of the previous one), who remained in place until the assassination attempt against Hitler in March 1944. Thanked and recalled to Germany, von Stülpnagel committed suicide shortly after to have been replaced by Karl Kitzinger – who had the mediocre privilege of being the last commander of the Occupation Forces in France… forces whose territory of competence was decreasing day by day!
The MBF was divided into two branches: the Kommandostab (military staff), headed by the General Speidel, and the Verwaltungsstab or Militärverwaltung (administrative staff), directed by Doctor Schmitt. By article n° 3 of the armistice agreement – and if we put side the role of the Security Forces of the Territory of Laval, which was always minor – the OKW, therefore the German army, enjoyed all the executive powers of the police. And like the MBF led by nature all German police forces – GFP and Feldgendarmerie – its main tasks were to maintain order. This was ensured in particular, under the authority of the Kommandostab, by the Leitender Feldpolizei Direktor or Directorate of field police, led by Doktor Sowa. The MBF fully supervised the remainder of the French administration – by the way theoretically by the government of the New French State. He therefore controlled the action of thepolice prefecture and the national police – through the Ministerialdirigent, Dr. Best, himself dependent on the Kommandostab. He also assumed custody of the various internment camps spread across France for the sorting of prisoners.
However, much of the MBF's work also focused on aspects economic – evidenced by the importance taken by specialized services in this field, under the authority of the Verwaltungsstab. Reporting directly to the military high command, and more particularly to the Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, von Mackensen or von Stülpnagel (Otto or KarlHeinrich) therefore had, so to speak, absolute power in France!
PP – Even compared to other Reich services?
RSP – Yes – with the notable exception of Admiral Canaris’ Abwehr, who handled the flap “Intelligence and Security” of the MBF: a kind of secret service having essentially, but not just for military purposes. From the Hôtel Lutétia in Paris, Lieutenant-Colonel Rudolph and his deputy, Commander Oskar Reile, headed three sections respectively
responsible for sabotage and psychological warfare (the demoralization of the French, notably through the “abandonist” current), espionage and of course the counterintelligence, to unmask Allied agents in the territory. The collaboration with other services of the MBF was moreover… difficult: Rudolph only reported to Berlin and
his men formed a veritable army within the army. Besides, the Abwehr too, we will see, was very interested in the economic aspects of the Occupation. On the other hand, for the military, the SS should play no role in the administration of the war occupied France.
PP – It is hard to believe, when you see the role played – alas! – the SS in repression Resistance movements! You just have to see the memory she left behind!
RSP – That was precisely the reason for it. Believe it or not, the OKW seems to have been very shocked by the past abuses of the Black Order during previous invasions, and
feared that the executioners' zeal would be counterproductive.
PP – It is doubtful that the SS and its leader, the terrible Himmler, would allow such an affront to pass!
RSP – Of course! In 1940, the very day of the fall of Paris, unbeknownst even to the German high command, a team – a Sonderkommando – led by the Standartenführer Helmut Knochen, entered the city, on the personal order of Reinhard Heydrich. It was followed a few months later by two other groups, led by the officers Kieffer and Nosek. At 72 avenue Foch, the RSHA – the intelligence service of the SS – began to weave its web over France. He was of course quickly spotted by the military of the MBF, but Knochen, Kieffer and Nosek managed against all odds to coax them into promising to go through them for the slightest action. Only information, promise!
Among these SS, there was of course a representative of the Gestapo: Karl Boemelburg, protected of Heinrich Müller himself (boss of the secret police and number 2 of the RSHA). A long time, Boemelburg was the only true gestapo in France. A former police commissioner, who knew France very well, having traveled there many times and who had moreover was officially in charge of a security mission at the time of the family visit British Royal in Paris in 1938. He would also have worked with the French police, in
homicide investigations… Obviously, he was above all a spy, perfectly spotted by the Surêté of the rest! In the spring of 1939, even as the conflict rumbled, France had
obtained his deportation. So, just 13 months later, Boemelburg returned, representing officially the RSHA – even though it had no powers of arrest and had to
content with observer status.
Unfortunately, this observer would quickly become very active: tracking down German emigrants, hunt for Francs-maçons, flushing out Resistance fighters. But in the end he did very little damage, lack of means. His superior Helmut Knochen, bearing the pompous title of Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei (Commander of the Paris Security Police), was a talented young man – but a young man. He lacked confidence in the face of the generals of the MBF and the SS had to add a… adviser, Brigadeführer Thomas. Despite this last, the Gestapo structure stagnated. In December 1941, it represented less than 100 agents, against 5,000 for the Wehrmacht, and moreover had to face competition from the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, the group in charge of everything related to racial research Nazis and the spoliation of works of art. We are already beginning to understand the interest that the SS – and the MBF – were both going to find the Rue Lauriston mercenaries, as part of their internal war.
PP – A war? At this point ?
RSP – Yes, a war! With the stake, the booty, France itself. As as we have pointed out, since the armistice with the NEF, France was plundered. the army German requisitioned massively stocks having nothing to do with materials military: coal, civilian vehicles, horses, food. Later, she decided to formalize this bag, presenting trade agreements that the Laval government was asked to sign.
In reality, these were real taxes in the form of raw materials or products finished. The armistice had recorded the control of all the wealth of the country, while
imposing the payment of the famous daily occupation allowance. The Reich chose arbitrarily which sector to develop, where to allocate workers, which company
favor… when he was not directly requisitioning manpower, of course, to send him to work in Germany.
But all this looting posed a problem. Admittedly, the imposed exchange rate (1 Reichsmark for 20 Francs) was outrageously advantageous for Berlin. Of course, occupancy costs payable in Marks (400 million francs a day!) offered Germany the means unlimited funds to buy – wholesale – everything that was on the territory. But the
Franc Laval remained a monkey currency, thanks to the efforts of Algiers. The Reich was cashing in, well of course, extravagant sums - I did the total, it exceeds 30 billion
RM, or more than 600 billion Laval francs, counting the sums provided to the Italians and this even though the cost of maintaining the army of occupation was not to exceed 74 billions of francs for the duration of the war. But Berlin could do none of these astronomical amounts!
PP - One moment. Did you say 600 billion “invoiced” against 74 billion spent?
RSP- Yes! Germany made France pay for an occupation army of 18 million soldiers, compared to 400,000 in reality. But let's get to the crux of the problem. You are - nothing personal, is it, it's for the reasoning [Laughs in the studio] – the director of the Reichsbank. You accumulate in your book of colossal bills from the National Bank of the NEF. But
this currency is a monkey currency! From 1940, it was accepted almost nowhere in the world to acquire goods, and from the end of 1941, it is no longer accepted at all,
even by the Axis countries. In truth, it is hardly accepted in occupied France! Add to that the galloping inflation resulting from the financial maneuvers of the government of Algiers, and you wonder what you are going to do, as a state, with these billions of Laval francs converted into marks...
PP - I understand! I have to turn to the underground economy!
RSP- Exactly! The occupier decided, in order to make the money he stole from us profitable, to create and to rationalize a market, not black, but… “brown” for its own benefit. He grasped the useful and sold the superfluous at a very high price.
Mr. Raymond – This “brown market” was called the “Secteur officiel Clandestin”.
Ph. R. – We have the image of Bourvil, crossing Paris with his pig in a suitcase. The truth is more painful.
M. Raymond – In French cities, during the winter of 1942, it is impossible to eat without resorting to the black market. And when you can't pay either with money or in
bartering goods, what remains – apart from prostitution? Informations. The Germans practically formalized this trade, both that of goods and that of information, with their “purchasing offices”. The most famous is that of Herman Brandl, says Otto. He was an Abwehr agent, who crechait in Paris 21, square du Bois-de-Boulogne. Then at the Hôtel de la Princesse-de-Grèce, 6 rue Adolphe-Yvon – business worked, shall we say.
PP – Tell us, Mr. Raymond, please.
M. Raymond – The Otto office was, in a way, the purchasing center of the Abwehr – relocated from the Hotel Lutetia. He bought goods or information that he resold then he networked, created relationships – then with his profits he started again elsewhere, without forgetting of course to remunerate his touts. Of course, among
these, we found Pierre Bonny and his band.
PP – And, if I understood correctly, no one in the German army knew about it!
Mr. Raymond – Indeed. And yet… lots of goods have been sold, square du Bois-de-Boulogne! Transferred to the docks of Saint-Ouen, they then left for Germany.
In truth, Otto was making a profit by buying from the French and then reselling to others Germans.
RSP – One of the companies created by Otto was particularly active: Wifo (Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft) or Economic Research Society. It centralized – before dispatch – the majority of the Occupant's purchases, in several sections: textiles, tools, metals…
Mr. Raymond – The merchant procedure was very simple: the seller presents himself in the desk. He submits a price offer and most often presents a sample. If the buyer is
interested, he invites the seller to come to Saint-Ouen or Nanterre for the reception. We weighs the parcel, he sees a ticket to exchange cash 6, rue Adolphe-Yvon – the case ends there.
PP – No ID required.
M. Raymond – And no accounts kept either. But to give you a estimate, I think we are approaching 30 billion francs in purchases over the entire duration of the conflict. The office was turning 15 to 100 million a day in the best months… Even 150 million in the months of November and December 1942. I understand that one day in December
1942, there was a unit payment of 322 million francs.
PP – And so, all these goods – paid for with Occupation costs, it must be remembered – were missing on French stalls, which drove up prices.
RSP – Between 1940 and 1943, what is now called the purchasing power of French dropped by 40%. And we see well, by observing the criminal organization that we
have just described, that this policy was carefully considered. It was about starving the France, to empty it of its lifeblood, to transform it into a kind of tourist province
for the benefit of German vacationers.
Mr. Raymond – Do not blame the sellers: the brown market prices were without compared to those on the official market. 72 Francs per kilo of green leather, against 8 Francs at Laval. The kilo of lead: 30 francs against 6. The kilo of nickel: 1,000 francs against 200!
PP - It remained for the Occupation to find "traders" capable of finding everything. And above all, they had to be trustworthy, efficient and loyal people – and if possible as many in the trade of goods than in that of information.
Ph. R. – And this is where Pierre Bonny comes into play, with his group of auxiliaries at the same time economic and repressive.
PP – Who exactly was Pierre Bonny, Monsieur Robert?
Ph. R. – Already, he was, unfortunately, a policeman – or rather, he had been a policeman, National Safety. A man who entered la Maison – as they say – in 1918. Very
well noted by his bosses, very meticulous, hardworking… He was among the best from the start. In 1923, when he was only a trainee inspector, he was assigned to the Seznec case – a case in which he would have, according to some, lacked impartiality. Not enough, however, to hamper his career.
PP – It should be noted in this regard that the family of Mr. Seznec is still fighting today to rehabilitate the latter, who was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of the
disappearance of General Counsel Pierre Quéméneur – who was steeped in ugly stories sale of cars abandoned in France by the American army. A complicated matter
even dark...
Ph. R. – In any case, it does not hinder Bonny's career. In 1927, the year Seznec left in prison, he received the Médaille d'Argent de la Sûreté. He was chief inspector in 1930. His
chefs consider him “daring and enterprising, with drive and initiative” – while specifying that its action must be closely monitored. When he takes care of the famous
Stavisky affair, he is called "the first cop in France" - the expression is from the mouth of the Minister Of Justice of the time. He then works wonders, gets his hands on coins to
apparently decisive convictions, arrests caïds like Carbone and Spirito or even the Baron de Lussatz… but he then had to release them for lack of evidence!
This semi-failure causes him a lot of damage. Now we talk behind his back, we think he's too safe of him, contemptuous of the customs of the House, addicted to celebrity – nowadays, one would say it “too much in the media". He appears ambitious, arrogant, with dubious methods with no other goal than to increase his fame. We imagine him manipulating evidence, or even fabricating, to better identify the culprits who arrange it, with the complicity of notorious bandits.
PP - And it was true?
Ph. R. – To a large extent, yes! His colleague, Commissioner Clot, would explain much later: "Bonny has always had a marginal activity, which put him in contact with the Milieu, the crooks and traffickers. He has always had an unreassuring, equivocal side, bordering on rotten policeman. “But that does not detract from the fact that there remained a size, able to organize a service and running it. Even if it lacked a bit of patter, relational – without doubt for lack of having been able to associate with a great accomplice who would have had these capacities – it is unquestionably an interlocutor of choice for the Germans.
PP - Why didn't he go to Algeria? Willingly or by force, I specify, because we would have could force him!
Ph. R. – In 1940, Bonny was nothing for the French Republic. He had been revoked for embezzlement in 1937. It was therefore a private, who had worked a little for the Ministry of the Interior on far-right militias and the fascist organization OSAR – la Cagoule. A ruined and bitter man, who had no reason to benefit from the attention of the government French in 1940. No more besides, at first, than the attention of the German authorities.
PP - Yes - moreover, how does he go about putting himself at the service of the Occupation? Because Idoubt that it was enough for him to send his CV by post!
Mr. Raymond – Pierre Bonny knew a certain Jean Guélin – a crook, crooked lawyer at the bar of Lyon, very involved in the political world. In October 1940, it was he who went introduce Otto and Radecke, from the Abwehr. The two Germans will very quickly understand the interest of associating with a former police professional, who has contacts in the middle of theft and racketeering. For the record, let us specify that Guélin was named later mayor of a town in Deux-Sèvres, before being dismissed by the services of Laval themselves following black market cases! He had nothing else to suffer: Radecke had the his file and the Laval firm ensured that no proceedings were brought against him. He then managed his own real estate office on boulevard Malesherbes, while living middle class in an apartment confiscated by the Germans and bought back by him at a derisory price. This is how he also acquired the Edouard VII theatre, then the Zardas cabaret in the winter of 1942, after denouncing the previous owner as resistant – several months prison later, the man was obviously less tough on negotiation! He gave also in the denunciation of Jews and sent a named Dreyfus to Doctor Petiot.
The unfortunate man disappeared of course, but it was for his murder that Petiot was arrested once. first time under the Occupation.
PP – Yes… So Guélin introduces Bonny to the Germans.
Mr. Raymond – Yes. And it's going very well. Because Bonny himself presents very well. It is a father, a zealous former civil servant, experienced, endowed with the Culture of Secrecy – and especially with a revenge to take on France. Oh, but he starts small, too. He begins by writing reports on the MSR of Eugène Deloncle, which intrigues many
the Germans. It still earns him 20,000 Francs. Bonny is still too formal, too bureaucratic – he lacks contact, patter, he doesn't know how to bluff. And above all, it lacks
more means.
PP – Alas, it won't last – the rest after this little musical interruption.
« Tu portais dans ta voix comme un chant de Nerval
Quand tu parlais du sang jeune homme singulier
Scandant la cruauté de tes vers réguliers
Le rire des bouchers t’escortait dans les Halles
Parmi les diables chargés de chair tu noyais
Je ne sais quels chagrins ou bien quels blue devils
Tu traînais au bal derrière l’Hôtel-de-Ville
Dans les ombres koscher d’un Quatorze-Juillet
Tu avais en ces jours ces accents de gageure
Que j’entends retentir à travers les années
Poète de vingt ans d’avance assassiné
Et que vengeaient déjà le blasphème et l’injure
Tu parcourais la vie avec des yeux royaux
Quand je t’ai rencontré revenant du Maroc
C’était un temps maudit peuplé de gens baroques
Qui jouaient dans la brume à des jeux déloyaux
Debout sous un porche avec un cornet de frites
Te voilà par mauvais temps près de Saint-Merry
Dévisageant le monde avec effronterie
De ton regard pareil à celui d’Amphitrite. »
La complainte de Robert le Diable Louis Aragon (chanté par Jean Ferrat)
"You carried in your voice like a song by Nerval
When you spoke of the blood singular young man
Chanting the cruelty of your regular verses
The laughter of the butchers escorted you to the Halles
Among the flesh-laden devils you were drowning
I don't know what sorrows or what blue devils
You were hanging out at the ball behind the Hôtel-de-Ville
In the kosher shadows of a Quatorze-Juillet
You had in those days these accents of challenge
That I hear ringing through the years
Poet twenty years in advance assassinated
And already avenged by blasphemy and insult
You walked through life with royal eyes
When I met you coming back from Morocco
It was a cursed time populated by baroque people
Who played foul games in the mist
Standing on a porch with a cone of fries
Here you are in bad weather near Saint-Merry
Staring at the world with brazenness
From your gaze similar to that of Amphitrite. »
Lamente of Robert The devil - Louis Aragon (sung by Jean Ferrat)
The French underworld at the service of the Nazi occupier
(Script of the program “Witnesses of the Age”, Patrick Pesnot, France Inter, 1998)
“Was there a “French Gestapo”? » (Claude Bourdet)
Patrick Pesnot – Hello everyone, dear listeners, and thank you for joining us for this new issue of “Witnesses of the Age”, devoted this evening to a very obscure, although fascinating subject – even if it brings us back to what has now become commonplace to call the saddest hours in our history. A somewhat special show tonight, too,
because I have around me not one, but three guests – and guests of choice. First there is Mr. Philippe Robert, director of research emeritus at the Center for Sociological Research on Law and penal institutions at the University of Versailles.
Philippe Robert – Good evening, Mr. Pesnot.
P. Pesnot – Good evening, dear sir. Let us specify for our auditors that your institution is specializing in the study of relations between society and delinquents of all stripes, whether you are yourself a recognized sociologist, doctor of the University of Bordeaux, and that you collaborate for a long time with – among other institutions – the Ministry of Justice. In in front of you, Mr. Robert Stan Pratsky, a well-known specialist in the Second World War and everything related to the underworld “milieu”. We owe him in particular works exciting, which I urge you to read, on the underside of the operations in Provence and general on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Robert Stan Pratsky – Good evening, dear sir.
PP- Good evening. Finally, we have a third guest, quite exceptional but of whom I do not can't give you the real identity. We will call him Monsieur Raymond. Mr. Raymond, good evening.
Mr. Raymond – Good evening, Mr. Pesnot.
PP – Mr. Raymond is an exceptional guest, because he knew well – and very closely – the topic of tonight's show: relations between French criminal circles and Germany
Nazi during the Occupation. Relationships which, we will see, were anything but anecdotal. But first, a brief summary of the situation, so that things be clear. On June 14, 1940, as we all know, alas, the Wehrmacht, Hitler's army enters Paris. What is the objective of the German invader, apart from the fact to force into enslavement the hated adversary: France?
R.S. Pratsky – Well, dear Monsieur Pesnot, you should know that the German invasion of Western Europe, just like the majority of the conflicts that Berlin will subsequently trigger, responds to both economic and ideological considerations. In 1940 (and it will be truer from 1942), Germany is surrounded, stuck in a position that cutting off world trade, despite its European allies and the temporary benevolence of the USSR, in particular because of the domination exercised over the seas by the Royal Navy
and the Navy. The courage of the English and French leaders forcing him to continue a war that it imagined to be short, the Reich must, in order to hope to win, excessively plunder the occupied territories, whose populations will have to be repressed with energy. France, like other invaded countries, is therefore plundered! Confiscation of means of production, hunting down Jews, spoliation of their property, seizure of works of art, arrests and torture of the Resistance fighters... But for all this, the means are lacking, especially since these misdeeds do not will only get bigger over time!
PP- Yes. Germany must therefore find aid. Native auxiliaries, if I dared.
RSP – Absolutely. And this is how it was set up, with the significant help of an individual in particular – but among others, alas – an alliance of fortune, an evil alliance between
the Underworld and the Occupation, because of their converging interests in this matter.
PP – A real thriller! Which will generate many fantasies, films and books. We can cite Louis Malle, Laurent Heynemann, Claude Sautet… While in reality, basically, we still know very little about this economic collaboration and about the men who led it!
Ph. Robert – As you can imagine, the Middle – that of organized crime, of course – keeps only a little archives useful to the historian. However, this is not the case with Justice, which has retained, for his part, a certain number of files compiled at the Liberation – very thick files, I must say, that it is possible to consult under certain conditions. The Army also has archives, thanks to the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Action, the Second Bureau and the DGSS – but cannot be accessed.
PP – Why so?
Ph. R. – You should ask them! But anyway, one thing is clear: the Occupiers offered criminals the possibility of organizing offices at their service, kinds of subsidiaries. Dispensaries if you will, most often organized around of a charismatic leader, and whose imprint was to leave a lasting mark on French crime until our days. This hooliganism made it possible to train a whole generation of criminals, who later had a rich and fruitful career.
RSP – It should also be noted that these collaborations went well beyond simple relationships interpersonal relations between criminals. Organized crime contributed massively to the looting of the countries during the Occupation, and just as much to repression – with formidable efficiency, which is not unlike that of the so-called professional German services. It was quite logical that this integration worked as well – the Nazi Party being itself already a kind of gang divided into coteries, its members had experience in the matter!
PP – Precisely, it is rare that the bandits are united towards an objective. We imagine them more happy to compete! Mr. Raymond, you who experienced these events,
How do you explain that ?
M. Raymond – Hem… Today like yesterday, we must not see the milieu as a unique and hierarchical organization. A cloud, a nebula would be better. little ones
thugs to serious white-collar criminals, including bank robbers or even the crooked police, all act according to their own goals. With the arrival of Germans, a certain number of them naturally wondered spontaneously if there had no way of getting anything out of the defeat. Only, isolated, they did not weigh much. Naturally – even instinctively, without realizing it – they thus federated around several personalities well in court, who could at the same time serve protectors and leaders, or at least coordinators. This was especially the case with Pierre Bonny, Rue Lauriston and what will become most of SONEF – the Service d'Ordre du Nouvel Etat Français.
PP – La Carlingue. The one whose notebooks by Jean Martin, recently reissued, have enlightened operation.
Mr. Raymond – Absolutely. With a nuance, however. Unlike Jean Martin – a poor young man tossed about by circumstances, at least at the beginning of his career – or the authentic fascist supporters of Jacques Doriot, the rallying of the Milieu à the Occupation responded above all to pure economic opportunism. The holy war against
Communism, capitalism, Anglo-Saxons, Africans… very little for us – I mean, for them. Simply, they found that the Nazis were setting up a policy of looting, then considered it possible to take part in it to live well.
RPP – Even if it means allying with the Gestapo for this. Besides, the Gestapo, Mr. Pratsky, what was it exactly?
RSP – Popular memory has preserved the Epinal image of an omniscient secret police and centralized, whose terrifying assassins in raincoats methodically crisscrossed the
territory aboard powerful cars. The truth is more complex. Already, in reality, he absolutely not a single organization, but rather different organizations with different
different goals, each with unclear and tangled responsibilities, but that we have all grouped under a single term to represent their terrible efficiency conjugated. As I told you, the parallel with the Milieu is obvious. To simplify, say that the Secret State Police or Geheime Staatspolizei is globally the armed wing of the Nazi Party and its Occupied Territories Control Service: the ReichsSicherheitsHauptamt (Reich Central Security Office). Unlike other intelligence agencies Germans, she alone has the power of arrest. All other organizations must go through it for that. This gives him considerable power, but requires a lot of means.
PP – Sorry to interrupt you, but before continuing, a simple question: if the Gestapo is Nazi in its very nature, how is it possible for French people to make it party while pretending to be foreign to Hitler's ideas? Is it, in the subject that we occupied, of French Nazis?
M. Raymond – With your permission, I must specify that in terms of nationality, there were of all Rue Lauriston. Poles, North Africans, Italians… Even if, indeed,
the majority of the chefs were French.
RSP – And in fact of political orientation, I will answer – they were not Nazis, at least not to begin with. There is no unique profile for Collaborators. between member
member of a party and the one who writes an anonymous letter from time to time, there is a world. The German services recruited widely, on the promise of a ringing reward and stumbling – even if it was only Francs Laval – or on guarantee of protection. I am not afraid to state that I understand – even if I obviously do not approve of it –
the explanation of Monsieur Raymond, when he speaks of “vivre bien” thanks to the Occupier. Of sporting environment in the medical environment, from garages to night Paris, there were everywhere people to collaborate. Every part of society has had its lame ducks for various reasons. A lot out of profit, but very little out of conviction.
Ph. R. – Any retreat of the state is favorable to crime. War naturally entails creation of a “grey” economy. This is unfortunately a reality. And as we have sketched, the
Midfield played the invader card early on to thrive – just look at the number considerable number of common law prisoners released between 40 and 44 on the instructions of Occupants or their friends! Among them, very few politicians, no idealists. Of the predators or parasites – depending on each person's judgment. They chose a way of life
margin, which obeys their own codes, which prevail over those of the Company. Having already turned his back on this same society, notorious members of a singular class, it is natural that they did not feel very concerned by the ongoing conflict… I am afraid that your political interpretation, Mr. Pesnot, therefore has no place here. Except perhaps in concerns the few refractory to this evolution, the best known of which are the brothers Garneri – strong personalities from the Corso-Provençal milieu rallied to the Resistance, although for much more… personal reasons than mere Republican idealism.
M. Raymond – Yes – out of revenge, it must be said! Because at that time, the Garneri – as the others – only really respected the laws of the Middle: the duty of Silence, the requirement of Solidarity, the right of Vengeance, submission to the decisions of the Chief. And most of their… colleagues, who considered it obvious that Germany had won the war, did not see no longer any interest in even pretending to follow the principles of a Republic exiled to the south of the Mediterranean. So if the Germans offered them, in the interests of the Reich, of course, to expand their activities beyond what was tolerated before the conflict, and to rise, in doing so, above their marginal condition… well, the occasion was too good to refuse to take our revenge and gain access to the honors that had been denied to us until then. All have not played this card thoroughly, but some have not been deprived of it.
PP – Until sometimes taking the place of the police. But how many were there, gentlemen, these auxiliaries of the Occupiers? And how many, directly or indirectly, have joined SONEF?
Ph. R. – The figures vary, but overall it is estimated that 40 or 50,000 people number of those who once worked, more or less actively, for the Germans. As for SONEF, it is impossible for me to commit to a precise count, due to the large number of members… casual and hidden relationships, not to mention the destruction of many documents at the end of the war. Half, i.e. 20 or 25,000 people, seems to me a good approximation – even if a good part of them do not never wore the SONEF uniform! The Rue Lauriston Street , led by Bonny, in absorbed the largest part, thus becoming undoubtedly the most powerful of the dispensary of Collaborative criminals. This is what makes it so representative - as well as the fact that its leader knew how to navigate perfectly between the different German and French coteries of the Occupation. Pierre Bonny, alas, was a clever man, who understood that services they could render were of such great value that he could afford certain privileges.
PP – Fifty thousand active collaborators! This number is huge! But I allow myself to come back to the sociological aspect of these men, these criminals. You really value
that there were hardly any convinced Nazis among them? Allow me to doubt it!
Ph. R. – And yet… The sociological profile of criminals is often remarkable in similarity. If their social origin or the circumstances of their entry into the environment can
differ, they all stay there by choice. They are habitual criminals...
M. Raymond – “Enfants du malheur”, according to the formula.
Ph. R. – If you want. The criminal is therefore a professional recidivist, marginal and out of the national community. He and his companions form a universe apart, where the degrees implications range from the misguided awaiting redemption to a genuine public enemy. But all these people - who are not involved in politics - indeed go to the same places, go in the same bars, are incarcerated in the same prisons… fight over the same women and also the same sources of income. They therefore inevitably create links, and
spontaneously exclude all those who do not have the “codes” of the Middle. Of which of course the fascists. And it is this same unity of thought that has spontaneously led organized crime as a whole to understand that the Occupation gave him the opportunity to make the best deals of their careers… for a few favors to be rendered to the fascists in question.
M. Raymond – What we still call today “les plus belles années du Milieu”.
RSP - You didn't have to be a Reich supporter or an anti-Semite to join the Gestapo. Of even, it was not necessary to be from the Gestapo to mistreat the populations – and that also applied to the Germans.
PP – Mr. Pratsky, when did the Gestapo begin to crack down on the National territory ?
RSP – Well, surprisingly, relatively late, and after starting very small. Contrary to what happened during the Anschluss, then during the invasion of the Czechoslovakia or Poland, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht had obtained from Hitler that no civilian police force returns to France. The French metropolis was still a war zone – and would always be for the military command, despite the parody of the armistice signed by Laval. It was therefore entrusted to the Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, or MBF, of General Alfred Streccius. The reign of the latter, which had to essentially managing the end of the 1940 fighting, the takeover of the southern metropolis and finally the disarmament of the demobilized masses lasted only a few weeks. From the 25 August, Streccius was replaced by General Otto von Stülpnagel, who settled in the hotel
Majestic in Paris. In February 1942, Otto was replaced by Eberhardt von Mackensen, who held the reins a year before leaving for the Russian Front. Then it was the turn of Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (cousin of the previous one), who remained in place until the assassination attempt against Hitler in March 1944. Thanked and recalled to Germany, von Stülpnagel committed suicide shortly after to have been replaced by Karl Kitzinger – who had the mediocre privilege of being the last commander of the Occupation Forces in France… forces whose territory of competence was decreasing day by day!
The MBF was divided into two branches: the Kommandostab (military staff), headed by the General Speidel, and the Verwaltungsstab or Militärverwaltung (administrative staff), directed by Doctor Schmitt. By article n° 3 of the armistice agreement – and if we put side the role of the Security Forces of the Territory of Laval, which was always minor – the OKW, therefore the German army, enjoyed all the executive powers of the police. And like the MBF led by nature all German police forces – GFP and Feldgendarmerie – its main tasks were to maintain order. This was ensured in particular, under the authority of the Kommandostab, by the Leitender Feldpolizei Direktor or Directorate of field police, led by Doktor Sowa. The MBF fully supervised the remainder of the French administration – by the way theoretically by the government of the New French State. He therefore controlled the action of thepolice prefecture and the national police – through the Ministerialdirigent, Dr. Best, himself dependent on the Kommandostab. He also assumed custody of the various internment camps spread across France for the sorting of prisoners.
However, much of the MBF's work also focused on aspects economic – evidenced by the importance taken by specialized services in this field, under the authority of the Verwaltungsstab. Reporting directly to the military high command, and more particularly to the Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, von Mackensen or von Stülpnagel (Otto or KarlHeinrich) therefore had, so to speak, absolute power in France!
PP – Even compared to other Reich services?
RSP – Yes – with the notable exception of Admiral Canaris’ Abwehr, who handled the flap “Intelligence and Security” of the MBF: a kind of secret service having essentially, but not just for military purposes. From the Hôtel Lutétia in Paris, Lieutenant-Colonel Rudolph and his deputy, Commander Oskar Reile, headed three sections respectively
responsible for sabotage and psychological warfare (the demoralization of the French, notably through the “abandonist” current), espionage and of course the counterintelligence, to unmask Allied agents in the territory. The collaboration with other services of the MBF was moreover… difficult: Rudolph only reported to Berlin and
his men formed a veritable army within the army. Besides, the Abwehr too, we will see, was very interested in the economic aspects of the Occupation. On the other hand, for the military, the SS should play no role in the administration of the war occupied France.
PP – It is hard to believe, when you see the role played – alas! – the SS in repression Resistance movements! You just have to see the memory she left behind!
RSP – That was precisely the reason for it. Believe it or not, the OKW seems to have been very shocked by the past abuses of the Black Order during previous invasions, and
feared that the executioners' zeal would be counterproductive.
PP – It is doubtful that the SS and its leader, the terrible Himmler, would allow such an affront to pass!
RSP – Of course! In 1940, the very day of the fall of Paris, unbeknownst even to the German high command, a team – a Sonderkommando – led by the Standartenführer Helmut Knochen, entered the city, on the personal order of Reinhard Heydrich. It was followed a few months later by two other groups, led by the officers Kieffer and Nosek. At 72 avenue Foch, the RSHA – the intelligence service of the SS – began to weave its web over France. He was of course quickly spotted by the military of the MBF, but Knochen, Kieffer and Nosek managed against all odds to coax them into promising to go through them for the slightest action. Only information, promise!
Among these SS, there was of course a representative of the Gestapo: Karl Boemelburg, protected of Heinrich Müller himself (boss of the secret police and number 2 of the RSHA). A long time, Boemelburg was the only true gestapo in France. A former police commissioner, who knew France very well, having traveled there many times and who had moreover was officially in charge of a security mission at the time of the family visit British Royal in Paris in 1938. He would also have worked with the French police, in
homicide investigations… Obviously, he was above all a spy, perfectly spotted by the Surêté of the rest! In the spring of 1939, even as the conflict rumbled, France had
obtained his deportation. So, just 13 months later, Boemelburg returned, representing officially the RSHA – even though it had no powers of arrest and had to
content with observer status.
Unfortunately, this observer would quickly become very active: tracking down German emigrants, hunt for Francs-maçons, flushing out Resistance fighters. But in the end he did very little damage, lack of means. His superior Helmut Knochen, bearing the pompous title of Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei (Commander of the Paris Security Police), was a talented young man – but a young man. He lacked confidence in the face of the generals of the MBF and the SS had to add a… adviser, Brigadeführer Thomas. Despite this last, the Gestapo structure stagnated. In December 1941, it represented less than 100 agents, against 5,000 for the Wehrmacht, and moreover had to face competition from the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, the group in charge of everything related to racial research Nazis and the spoliation of works of art. We are already beginning to understand the interest that the SS – and the MBF – were both going to find the Rue Lauriston mercenaries, as part of their internal war.
PP – A war? At this point ?
RSP – Yes, a war! With the stake, the booty, France itself. As as we have pointed out, since the armistice with the NEF, France was plundered. the army German requisitioned massively stocks having nothing to do with materials military: coal, civilian vehicles, horses, food. Later, she decided to formalize this bag, presenting trade agreements that the Laval government was asked to sign.
In reality, these were real taxes in the form of raw materials or products finished. The armistice had recorded the control of all the wealth of the country, while
imposing the payment of the famous daily occupation allowance. The Reich chose arbitrarily which sector to develop, where to allocate workers, which company
favor… when he was not directly requisitioning manpower, of course, to send him to work in Germany.
But all this looting posed a problem. Admittedly, the imposed exchange rate (1 Reichsmark for 20 Francs) was outrageously advantageous for Berlin. Of course, occupancy costs payable in Marks (400 million francs a day!) offered Germany the means unlimited funds to buy – wholesale – everything that was on the territory. But the
Franc Laval remained a monkey currency, thanks to the efforts of Algiers. The Reich was cashing in, well of course, extravagant sums - I did the total, it exceeds 30 billion
RM, or more than 600 billion Laval francs, counting the sums provided to the Italians and this even though the cost of maintaining the army of occupation was not to exceed 74 billions of francs for the duration of the war. But Berlin could do none of these astronomical amounts!
PP - One moment. Did you say 600 billion “invoiced” against 74 billion spent?
RSP- Yes! Germany made France pay for an occupation army of 18 million soldiers, compared to 400,000 in reality. But let's get to the crux of the problem. You are - nothing personal, is it, it's for the reasoning [Laughs in the studio] – the director of the Reichsbank. You accumulate in your book of colossal bills from the National Bank of the NEF. But
this currency is a monkey currency! From 1940, it was accepted almost nowhere in the world to acquire goods, and from the end of 1941, it is no longer accepted at all,
even by the Axis countries. In truth, it is hardly accepted in occupied France! Add to that the galloping inflation resulting from the financial maneuvers of the government of Algiers, and you wonder what you are going to do, as a state, with these billions of Laval francs converted into marks...
PP - I understand! I have to turn to the underground economy!
RSP- Exactly! The occupier decided, in order to make the money he stole from us profitable, to create and to rationalize a market, not black, but… “brown” for its own benefit. He grasped the useful and sold the superfluous at a very high price.
Mr. Raymond – This “brown market” was called the “Secteur officiel Clandestin”.
Ph. R. – We have the image of Bourvil, crossing Paris with his pig in a suitcase. The truth is more painful.
M. Raymond – In French cities, during the winter of 1942, it is impossible to eat without resorting to the black market. And when you can't pay either with money or in
bartering goods, what remains – apart from prostitution? Informations. The Germans practically formalized this trade, both that of goods and that of information, with their “purchasing offices”. The most famous is that of Herman Brandl, says Otto. He was an Abwehr agent, who crechait in Paris 21, square du Bois-de-Boulogne. Then at the Hôtel de la Princesse-de-Grèce, 6 rue Adolphe-Yvon – business worked, shall we say.
PP – Tell us, Mr. Raymond, please.
M. Raymond – The Otto office was, in a way, the purchasing center of the Abwehr – relocated from the Hotel Lutetia. He bought goods or information that he resold then he networked, created relationships – then with his profits he started again elsewhere, without forgetting of course to remunerate his touts. Of course, among
these, we found Pierre Bonny and his band.
PP – And, if I understood correctly, no one in the German army knew about it!
Mr. Raymond – Indeed. And yet… lots of goods have been sold, square du Bois-de-Boulogne! Transferred to the docks of Saint-Ouen, they then left for Germany.
In truth, Otto was making a profit by buying from the French and then reselling to others Germans.
RSP – One of the companies created by Otto was particularly active: Wifo (Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft) or Economic Research Society. It centralized – before dispatch – the majority of the Occupant's purchases, in several sections: textiles, tools, metals…
Mr. Raymond – The merchant procedure was very simple: the seller presents himself in the desk. He submits a price offer and most often presents a sample. If the buyer is
interested, he invites the seller to come to Saint-Ouen or Nanterre for the reception. We weighs the parcel, he sees a ticket to exchange cash 6, rue Adolphe-Yvon – the case ends there.
PP – No ID required.
M. Raymond – And no accounts kept either. But to give you a estimate, I think we are approaching 30 billion francs in purchases over the entire duration of the conflict. The office was turning 15 to 100 million a day in the best months… Even 150 million in the months of November and December 1942. I understand that one day in December
1942, there was a unit payment of 322 million francs.
PP – And so, all these goods – paid for with Occupation costs, it must be remembered – were missing on French stalls, which drove up prices.
RSP – Between 1940 and 1943, what is now called the purchasing power of French dropped by 40%. And we see well, by observing the criminal organization that we
have just described, that this policy was carefully considered. It was about starving the France, to empty it of its lifeblood, to transform it into a kind of tourist province
for the benefit of German vacationers.
Mr. Raymond – Do not blame the sellers: the brown market prices were without compared to those on the official market. 72 Francs per kilo of green leather, against 8 Francs at Laval. The kilo of lead: 30 francs against 6. The kilo of nickel: 1,000 francs against 200!
PP - It remained for the Occupation to find "traders" capable of finding everything. And above all, they had to be trustworthy, efficient and loyal people – and if possible as many in the trade of goods than in that of information.
Ph. R. – And this is where Pierre Bonny comes into play, with his group of auxiliaries at the same time economic and repressive.
PP – Who exactly was Pierre Bonny, Monsieur Robert?
Ph. R. – Already, he was, unfortunately, a policeman – or rather, he had been a policeman, National Safety. A man who entered la Maison – as they say – in 1918. Very
well noted by his bosses, very meticulous, hardworking… He was among the best from the start. In 1923, when he was only a trainee inspector, he was assigned to the Seznec case – a case in which he would have, according to some, lacked impartiality. Not enough, however, to hamper his career.
PP – It should be noted in this regard that the family of Mr. Seznec is still fighting today to rehabilitate the latter, who was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of the
disappearance of General Counsel Pierre Quéméneur – who was steeped in ugly stories sale of cars abandoned in France by the American army. A complicated matter
even dark...
Ph. R. – In any case, it does not hinder Bonny's career. In 1927, the year Seznec left in prison, he received the Médaille d'Argent de la Sûreté. He was chief inspector in 1930. His
chefs consider him “daring and enterprising, with drive and initiative” – while specifying that its action must be closely monitored. When he takes care of the famous
Stavisky affair, he is called "the first cop in France" - the expression is from the mouth of the Minister Of Justice of the time. He then works wonders, gets his hands on coins to
apparently decisive convictions, arrests caïds like Carbone and Spirito or even the Baron de Lussatz… but he then had to release them for lack of evidence!
This semi-failure causes him a lot of damage. Now we talk behind his back, we think he's too safe of him, contemptuous of the customs of the House, addicted to celebrity – nowadays, one would say it “too much in the media". He appears ambitious, arrogant, with dubious methods with no other goal than to increase his fame. We imagine him manipulating evidence, or even fabricating, to better identify the culprits who arrange it, with the complicity of notorious bandits.
PP - And it was true?
Ph. R. – To a large extent, yes! His colleague, Commissioner Clot, would explain much later: "Bonny has always had a marginal activity, which put him in contact with the Milieu, the crooks and traffickers. He has always had an unreassuring, equivocal side, bordering on rotten policeman. “But that does not detract from the fact that there remained a size, able to organize a service and running it. Even if it lacked a bit of patter, relational – without doubt for lack of having been able to associate with a great accomplice who would have had these capacities – it is unquestionably an interlocutor of choice for the Germans.
PP - Why didn't he go to Algeria? Willingly or by force, I specify, because we would have could force him!
Ph. R. – In 1940, Bonny was nothing for the French Republic. He had been revoked for embezzlement in 1937. It was therefore a private, who had worked a little for the Ministry of the Interior on far-right militias and the fascist organization OSAR – la Cagoule. A ruined and bitter man, who had no reason to benefit from the attention of the government French in 1940. No more besides, at first, than the attention of the German authorities.
PP - Yes - moreover, how does he go about putting himself at the service of the Occupation? Because Idoubt that it was enough for him to send his CV by post!
Mr. Raymond – Pierre Bonny knew a certain Jean Guélin – a crook, crooked lawyer at the bar of Lyon, very involved in the political world. In October 1940, it was he who went introduce Otto and Radecke, from the Abwehr. The two Germans will very quickly understand the interest of associating with a former police professional, who has contacts in the middle of theft and racketeering. For the record, let us specify that Guélin was named later mayor of a town in Deux-Sèvres, before being dismissed by the services of Laval themselves following black market cases! He had nothing else to suffer: Radecke had the his file and the Laval firm ensured that no proceedings were brought against him. He then managed his own real estate office on boulevard Malesherbes, while living middle class in an apartment confiscated by the Germans and bought back by him at a derisory price. This is how he also acquired the Edouard VII theatre, then the Zardas cabaret in the winter of 1942, after denouncing the previous owner as resistant – several months prison later, the man was obviously less tough on negotiation! He gave also in the denunciation of Jews and sent a named Dreyfus to Doctor Petiot.
The unfortunate man disappeared of course, but it was for his murder that Petiot was arrested once. first time under the Occupation.
PP – Yes… So Guélin introduces Bonny to the Germans.
Mr. Raymond – Yes. And it's going very well. Because Bonny himself presents very well. It is a father, a zealous former civil servant, experienced, endowed with the Culture of Secrecy – and especially with a revenge to take on France. Oh, but he starts small, too. He begins by writing reports on the MSR of Eugène Deloncle, which intrigues many
the Germans. It still earns him 20,000 Francs. Bonny is still too formal, too bureaucratic – he lacks contact, patter, he doesn't know how to bluff. And above all, it lacks
more means.
PP – Alas, it won't last – the rest after this little musical interruption.
« Tu portais dans ta voix comme un chant de Nerval
Quand tu parlais du sang jeune homme singulier
Scandant la cruauté de tes vers réguliers
Le rire des bouchers t’escortait dans les Halles
Parmi les diables chargés de chair tu noyais
Je ne sais quels chagrins ou bien quels blue devils
Tu traînais au bal derrière l’Hôtel-de-Ville
Dans les ombres koscher d’un Quatorze-Juillet
Tu avais en ces jours ces accents de gageure
Que j’entends retentir à travers les années
Poète de vingt ans d’avance assassiné
Et que vengeaient déjà le blasphème et l’injure
Tu parcourais la vie avec des yeux royaux
Quand je t’ai rencontré revenant du Maroc
C’était un temps maudit peuplé de gens baroques
Qui jouaient dans la brume à des jeux déloyaux
Debout sous un porche avec un cornet de frites
Te voilà par mauvais temps près de Saint-Merry
Dévisageant le monde avec effronterie
De ton regard pareil à celui d’Amphitrite. »
La complainte de Robert le Diable Louis Aragon (chanté par Jean Ferrat)
"You carried in your voice like a song by Nerval
When you spoke of the blood singular young man
Chanting the cruelty of your regular verses
The laughter of the butchers escorted you to the Halles
Among the flesh-laden devils you were drowning
I don't know what sorrows or what blue devils
You were hanging out at the ball behind the Hôtel-de-Ville
In the kosher shadows of a Quatorze-Juillet
You had in those days these accents of challenge
That I hear ringing through the years
Poet twenty years in advance assassinated
And already avenged by blasphemy and insult
You walked through life with royal eyes
When I met you coming back from Morocco
It was a cursed time populated by baroque people
Who played foul games in the mist
Standing on a porch with a cone of fries
Here you are in bad weather near Saint-Merry
Staring at the world with brazenness
From your gaze similar to that of Amphitrite. »
Lamente of Robert The devil - Louis Aragon (sung by Jean Ferrat)