In retaliation for a series of attacks carried out against German soldiers in Paris in November 1941, the Nazis planned to execute 100 hostages. With the collaboration of the Vichy regime, they implemented a policy designed to counter attacks by Resistance fighters.
Since Pétain’s government did not have a sufficient number of Resistance members to hold as hostages, it decided to add 51 Jewish internees to the group: 44 were from the Drancy camp, 4 from Fort Romainville, and 3 from the Cherche-Midi prison.
Almost all of them were arrested for “Judeo-Communist” activities or for distributing “Communist” leaflets.
31 are listed as “communists,” 5 as “M.O.I.,” 2 as “underground Jewish press,” and 1 as a “communist from ‘Solidarity.’”
Half of them were arrested between August 19 and 23, 1941, after being “summoned” to police stations in Paris.
On December 15, 1941, 95 members of the Resistance were executed by firing squad: 69 at Mont-Valérien in Suresnes, 13 in Caen, 9 at La Blisière near Châteaubriant, and 4 in Fontevraud.
Three-quarters of the hostages shot at Mont-Valérien on December 15, 1941, were Jews. This was the first mass execution at Mont-Valérien.
References:
– Serge Klarsfeld, 2010, *The 1,007 Executed at Mont-Valérien, Including 174 Jews*, FFDJF Publishing
– Annette Wieviorka, Antoine Grande, Serge Klarsfeld, 2020, Lecture delivered on December 17, 2020, at Mont Valérien in memory of those executed on December 15, 1941.
