Pierre Paoli
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Pierre-Marie Paoli, also known as Lamote, (31 December 1921 – 15 June 1946) was a French agent in the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. The Gestapo (Secret State Police) was the official
secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...
of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
and
German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...
.


Biography

Pierre-Marie Paoli was born on 31 December 1921 in Aubigny-sur-Nere,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
to a middle-class family, his father came from Algajola in
Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
. Pierre Paoli attended public school. In October 1937 he obtained a job with the town of Aubigny, Allier as a clerk. Later he became the town's administrative assistant and later on 1 May 1938, became the Treasury of the town Mehun-sur-Yèvre, at age 17 years old. He then left his family to take the job at Mehun-sur-Yèvre. When war in Europe was declared in September 1939, he decided to return to Aubigny for a short time, and then moved to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
where he worked odd jobs. One of his odd jobs was as a
bicycle messenger Bicycle messengers (also known as bike or cycle couriers) are people who work for courier companies (also known as messenger companies) carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business dist ...
on behalf of the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
German Admiralty. In January 1942 Paoli then moved to
Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...
. On 31 March 1943 he was hired as
interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...
at the Gestapo HQ in Bourges. The Germans offered him a room in the local Gestapo HQ to stay. He was put in charge of Gestapo section 4A over Berry province, the department in
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
that fought against the Communists. But after a short time, he is given freedom of action and autonomy to hunt anyone thought to be anti-Nazi. He became a trusted agent of the ''
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...
'' (SD), and led numerous operations against the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
. He obtained the SS rank of ''
Scharführer ''Scharführer'' (, ) was a title or rank used in early 20th century German military terminology. In German, ''Schar'' was one term for the smallest sub-unit, equivalent to (for example) a "troop", "squad", or " section". The word ''führer'' ...
'' and was given German citizenship. He arrested over 300 people and deported many to camps as part of the
Final Solution The Final Solution or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question was a plan orchestrated by Nazi Germany during World War II for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews. The "Final Solution to the Jewish question" was the official ...
. He was known for his cruelty and torture of people during interrogation. He stripped his victims and seize their valuables. He even tortured Senator Marcel Plaisant. Anyone arrested by Paoli was either killed by the Gestapo in Bourges or sent to a
Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
. The French Gestapo also were part of the "roundup of Beffes" on 30 April 1944. It was two nights of raids conducted on 21 and 22 July 1944. Seventy-one Jewish refugees were arrested and sent to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Over the following days, Paoli participated in the tragedy of the Guerry's wells, where 36 Jews were massacred on the site of the abandoned Guerry Farm and their bodies were thrown into three wells. Mr. Krameisen was one of the few survivors of the raid and told the US Army soldiers about the raid and Paoli's involvement.cjhn.ca, Man getting out of one of the Guerry’s wells (graphic material)
/ref> Given Allied troops were nearby, Paoli evacuated Bourges on 6 August 1944. He was arrested by British forces at
Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...
near the Danish border on 16 May 1945. He was handed over to French authorities in January 1946 and brought back to Bourges for trial. He was brought to trial as a traitor on 3 May 1946; his nickname in the town was "the monster" and "sinister Paoli". Mr. Krameisen gave testimony at the trial. There was public outrage over the exposure of his atrocities. At his
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
he declared: "I'm not French, but German". He was sentenced to death and on 15 June 1946 he was executed in Bourges.


In popular culture

* Jean Lyonnet. ''L'Affaire Paoli'' (''The Case Paoli'') (Chassaing Publishing, 1964). Testimony by Marc Toledano Paoli, in the account he devotes to the monk Alois Stanke, charitable German jailer of the prison Bourges: The Franciscan of Bourges (Flammarion, 1969). * The historical novel of : ''Trompe-la-mort - les cahiers secrets de Pierre Paoli, agent français de la Gestapo'' (''Cheat Death, secret notebooks Pierre Paoli, secret Gestapo agent'' (Editions Qui Lit Vit, June 2011) - The book draws on the sources of court records of the trial Paoli and restores testimonials unpublished collected from people who surrounded this Gestapo Berry.


References


Sources

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External links


berrichou.free.fr, Paoli, le policier de la Gestapo, with Photo of Paoli


One of the families'account of their relatives' deaths, resistance and survival.] * librherry.canalblog.com Archive: *
PIERRE PAOLI, UN BOURREAU ORDINAIRE
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The raid Beffes. *

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REPRESSION IN FRANCE SUMMER 1944, ACTS OF ORGANIZED CONFERENCE BY THE FOUNDATION, Resistance AND CITY OF SAINT- Amand, SAINT- AMAND MONTROND A - MONTROND LE Wednesday, June 8, 2005, Foundation of the Resistance, Paris, 2007, "The tragedy of well Guerry" (summer 1944) French PDF.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paoli, Pierre 1921 births 1946 deaths Executed French collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed French mass murderers French civil servants French people executed for war crimes Gestapo personnel Holocaust perpetrators in France People convicted of torture People convicted of murder by France People from Cher (department) Naturalized citizens of Germany Vichy French war criminals