Unveiling French resistance fighter (98) leads to excavations at ‘secret’ mass grave with German soldiers | Abroad

Ten days have been allocated for the work. In the area, which will be searched using ground radar, more than 30 trees have been felled. About twenty archaeologists, anthropologists and people who support them hope to do the ‘tough job’.

The operation follows revelations from a French Resistance veteran. He named the Le Vert forest area as the site of the mass grave in May. The specialists who carry out the research need rest and concentration. That is why the prefecture of Corrèze chose to invite the media at the beginning of the investigation. After that, the place is no longer accessible to outsiders.

Resistance veteran Edmond Réveil is relieved that the ‘secret of Mymac’ has been revealed after almost eighty years. “It had to be known and I think it’s over now. I am 98 years old and want my rest,” he told regional reporters on Wednesday morning France 3. According to the public channel, the nineties felt “in the twilight of his life the need to tell everything because the weight of this dirty war story became too much for him.”

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According to Réveil, the shooting of the 46 German soldiers and an alleged female collaborator (20) was a war crime, since they were unarmed and the execution was ordered by higher authorities. The crime has now become time-barred because it took place more than 30 years ago.

The Frenchman, the last surviving eyewitness, was part of the French resistance movement FTP, which was founded in 1942 by the leadership of the French Communist Party. At the beginning of June 1944, he had taken countless prisoners in the city of Tulle during an attack on a school where German soldiers were billeted. The Waffen-SS had hanged 99 innocent civilians in the city. The resistance group withdrew to a forest area with the captured German soldiers and alleged collaborator, who would have worked for the Gestapo.

“People were not prepared for so many prisoners,” Réveil said in an interview with the regional newspaper on Monday La Montagne. Part of them – the 46 German soldiers and female collaborators – were transferred to the department for which he worked as a courier. “We received orders to shoot them.” Four resistance members, including the then 18-year-old Frenchman, refused, the others each shot a German.

“Because no one wanted to kill the woman, lots were drawn. Then the prisoners had to dig their own graves and our commander, a German-speaking Alsatian, tearfully told them that they would be executed. Before their deaths, the prisoners looked at pictures of their loved ones at home. They were not young soldiers because the young people were in Russia. After the execution we threw lime on the mass grave. It smelled like blood. We never talked about it again after that.”

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The execution of the German POWs was an open secret in Meymac. The facts were revealed in a historical work, but the inhabitants later did not want to open old wounds and remained silent about it. The location remained secret until its revelation by Réveil.

The German War Graves Commission was already looking for the bodies of the soldiers in the 1960s. The remains of eleven of them were found in 1967 and buried in a German military cemetery in western France. The mayor of Meymac asked the war graves commission in 1969 not to continue the search. Possibly out of concern that the reputation of the French resistance fighters could be damaged.

After Réveil’s revelation, the French National Service for Veterans and War Victims (ONaCVG), which works in conjunction with the German War Graves Commission, was able to locate a place where the soldiers are believed to be buried, mainly because of the size and the many ‘metallic effects’ of the uniforms and medals would come from the victims.

If the remains of the 46 German soldiers are found, they will be examined at the Anthropological Institute in Marseille. Scientists are using bones, hair and uniforms to identify the victims. As soon as this is known, the German War Graves Commission will contact the families. They have a choice: return the remains to Germany or have them buried in a German military cemetery in France.