France: The exhumation of German soldiers of the Second World War begins

2023-08-16 18:11:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Work to exhume the bodies of some 46 German soldiers captured and then killed by French resistance fighters in June 1944 during World War II has begun near the French village of Meymac.

The existence of the grave was revealed to the public by a 98-year-old former resistance fighter, Edmond Reveil, whose stated aim is to return the bodies to their families, if possible.

Edmond Reveil expressed his great sadness about these shootings, which happened when he was only 19 years old. According to his statements, he did not kill any of the soldiers himself.

"It was a war crime. We had no right to kill prisoners," he told local newspaper La Montagne last May.

French experts working on site benefit from the technical assistance of the German War Cemeteries Commission. The work is expected to last until the end of August.

The execution of the German soldiers and a suspected French collaborator followed several atrocities committed by German troops in the area.

Eleven bodies of German soldiers have already been found in Meymac in the 1960s.

The mayor of Meymac, Philippe Brugere, told the French news agency AFP that the aim was "to exhume the remains of German soldiers who have been forgotten in this country for 80 years" and "to return to Germany and above all to as much as possible, for their families".

What happened in Maymac in 1944?

In June 1944, after the Allied landings in Normandy, French resistance fighters captured the town of Tulle in central France, where Reveil said they took 55 prisoners, one of whom was shot dead while trying to escape.

But the next day, June 9, the town, located about fifty kilometers from Meymac, was retaken without a fight by German SS soldiers.

The SS responded en masse to the actions of the resistance fighters, hanging 99 randomly selected men from Tulle, then carried out another massacre in the relatively nearby town of Oradour-sur-Glane, where 643 residents were massacred.

The resistance fighters had nowhere to keep the prisoners, but were afraid to release them, because they might take revenge on the French population again.

The German soldiers were taken to a barn, where some were released. According to Reveil, the order was then given to shoot the others in a wooded area, an order he says came from the Allied command in nearby Saint-Frejoux.

The location of the grave was discovered last month through soil testing./ DW