“Saint-Genis-Laval massacre”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Saint-Genis-Laval Massacre or Fort de Côte-Lorette Massacre was the execution of about 180 prisoners of war at Fort de Côte-Lorette, Saint-Genis-Laval, on August 20th, 1944.

Context

After the Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944, and Operation Dragoon on August 15th, the defeat of the Third Reich was imminent and the violence of the Nazi occupying forces intensified.^[1] According to Henri Amouroux, Montluc prison was a favoured place for the German forces to bring prisoners for execution.^[2] In the months preceding the liberation of Lyon, hundreds of prisoners were arbitrarily executed, including about a hundred Jews at Bron airfield.^[3]

Events

On the morning of August 20th, 1944, the Lyon Sicherheitspolizei under the direction of Werner Knab and Klaus Barbie, took about 120 prisoners from Montluc prison. They were brought in two buses, accompanied by six cars containing Germans and members of the Milice française. They went to Fort de Côte-Lorette, where they arrived at 8:30 AM.^[2] The prisoners were shot in small groups inside the house. According to French Nazi collaborator Max Payot, toward the end of the massacre the piles of bodies were 6 feet in height; the perpetrators stood on these piles to silence the victims' groaning.^[4] René Wehrlen,^[5] one of the prisoners and a malgre-nous,^[6] was able to escape and was not recaptured.

After the shooting, the executioners burned the house down using gasoline and phosphorus, and blew up what remained.^[7] Many of the victims were local members of the French Resistance, including Daisy Georges-Martin, François Boursier, and Roger Radisson.

Aftermath

In retaliation, and with the goal of saving the thousand or so prisoners at Fort Montluc, Yves Farge, Commissioner of the Republic, ordered the execution of 84 German prisoners being held by the French Forces of the Interior in Haute-Savoie. A letter was sent to Werner Knab to make it known that any further execution of French prisoners would be met with the execution of more German prisoners, including a chief of police who was captured by the French Forces of the Interior in Loire.^[8]

On the evening of August 23rd, the prefect André Boutemy handed the keys to Fort Montluc to Yves Farge. The prison was liberated eleven hours before the liberation of Lyon, which happened on September 3rd, 1944.^[2] 44 German prisoners were executed at Annecy on August 28th, and 40 more at a house in Habère-Lullin on September 2nd; the latter execution happened in the place where the Nazis had killed 25 youths on Christmas Eve in the Habère-Lullin Massacre.^[8]

On August 21st, a team of morticians from the French Red Cross arrived to remove and identify the bodies from the massacre. They laid 88 coffins to rest, but the exact number of victims is not known; some of the coffins contained only bone fragments and debris.^[6] As of 2014, the work of identifying the bodies is still ongoing; a little more than 80 bodies have been identified.^[9]

On August 22nd, Cardinal Gerlier expressed his indignation to Knab in a letter where he called it an "indignity to Christian society and to simple humanity to put people to death in this manner",{{ref|a}} and said that "whoever bore the responsibility would be forever dishonoured in the eyes of humanity".{{ref|b}} The funeral was held at Saint-Genis-Laval on August 23rd, in the presence of Cardinal Gerlier, even though the Germans still occupied the town.^[6]

Each year, the Commune of Saint-Genis-Laval commemorates the massacre at the end of August in an official ceremony.^[9]

Notes

References

1. ^{{cite web|format=pdf|author=Nicole Amidieu-Michaud|title=La Croix-Rouge lyonnaise dans la guerre|date=2003-12-15|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/441162/filename/LA_CROIX-ROUGE_LYONNAISE_DANS_LA_GUERRE_-_Nicole_AMIDIEU-MICHAUD_-_2009.pdf|pages=54,86-89}}
2. ^¹²{{cite book|last=Roger|first=Debiève|title=Mémoires meurtries, mémoire trahie : Le Chambon-sur-Lignon|publisher=L'Harmattan|place=Paris|year=1995|oclc=408321881|pages=175-176}}
3. ^{{cite book| first=Dominique | last=Lormier |title = Les crimes nazis lors de la libération de la France 1944-1945 | publisher = Cherche midi | place = Paris | oclc = 881168406 | page = 87|url={{Google books|uNd6AwAAQBAJ|page=87|plainurl=yes}} }}
4. ^{{cite web |last1=Höhne |first1=Heinz |title=Der Schlächter von Lyon |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13524120.html |website=Der Spiegel |accessdate=2 January 2019 |date=18 May 1987 |quote="Am Schluß", so der Zeuge Max Payot, "lagen die Leichen anderthalb Meter hoch, und ab und zu stiegen die Deutschen auf die Körper ihrer Opfer, um diejenigen, die noch stöhnten, zum Schweigen zu bringen."}}
5. ^{{cite web|title=Il y a 60 ans, les martyrs de Saint-Genis|date=2004-08-23|url=https://www.20minutes.fr/lyon/34008-20040823-lyon-il-y-a-60-ans-les-martyrs-de-saint-genis|accessdate=2015-08-15}}
6. ^¹²³{{cite web|format=pdf|author=Nicole Amidieu-Michaud|title=La Croix-Rouge lyonnaise dans la guerre|date=2003-12-15|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/441162/filename/LA_CROIX-ROUGE_LYONNAISE_DANS_LA_GUERRE_-_Nicole_AMIDIEU-MICHAUD_-_2009.pdf|accessdate=2015-08-17|page=82}}
7. ^{{cite book|first=Alain|last=Guérin|title=Chronique de la Résistance|publisher=Omnibus|place=Paris|year=2010|oclc=718056394|pages=649-651|url={{Google books|KMwBdjPf6V4C|page=649|plainurl=yes}} }}
8. ^¹{{cite book|first=Michel|last=Germain|title=Le prix de la liberté : chronique de la Haute-Savoie de la bataille des Glières à la Libération et au-delà : 26 mars 1944-19 août 1944|publisher=Fontaine de Siloe|place=Ferme du Vochet (Les Marches)|year=1993|oclc=34526713|accessdate=2015-08-19|url={{Google books|o1-ArK3IsosC|page=336|plainurl=yes}}|page=336}}
9. ^¹{{cite web |title = Commémoration du 20 août 1944 au fort de Côte Lorette | url = http://www.saintgenislaval.fr/376-commemoration-du-20-aout-1944-au-fort-de-cote-lorette.htm | accessdate=2015-08-24}}
10. ^{{cite web |title = abbé François Larue 1888-1944 |url = http://museedudiocesedelyon.com/MUSEEduDIOCESEdeLYONlarue.htm |accessdate=2015-08-24}}.