The Grenoble's Saint-Bartholomew—a term used by historian François Boulet in his book —were the arrests and assassinations of the leaders of Grenoble's resistance to German occupation, taking place November 25–30, 1943. It was carried out by a team of collaborationists under the orders of Jacques Doriot and the Lyon French Popular Party (PPF) led by Francis André. It was named after the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the Protestant massacre of 1572.
During the Second World War, while the north of France had been occupied by German troops since June 1940, the southern or Zone libre (free zone) was invaded in November 1942, except for the Alps region, which found itself under a much less violent Italian occupation. This situation attracted many refugees and academics to Grenoble. The city's proximity to imposing mountain ranges and the ease with which Maquis fighters could hide made it an ideal location for the development of resistance to the occupation. On September 8, 1943, the French Alps were in turn invaded by the Germans, who quickly decided to eliminate this resistance in a vast operation.
In addition to five people who were deported but returned alive, Grenoble's Saint-Bartholomew's toll was eleven murders and eight deaths during deportation, with the future Prefect of Isère, , narrowly avoiding capture.
Context
During the Second World War, Grenoble was located in the free zone until November 1942. During this period, Operation Torch, the landing of Allied troops in North Africa, led to the invasion of most of the free zone by German troops and the occupation by the Italian army of an area east of the Rhône valley.
The city of Grenoble, with its population of 100,000, was occupied on November 11, 1942, by the 8,000 men of the 5th Italian Alpine Division "Pusteria", (General Maurizio Lazzaro de Castiglioni). Their area of responsibility stretched from Lake Geneva to the Durance. This period of Italian occupation was a relatively safe one in Grenoble, particularly for persecuted Jews from the occupied zone such as the future historian Marc Ferro but also for academics and scientists such as the future Nobel Prize winner Louis Néel. On September 8, 1943, the territories occupied by the Italians were in turn controlled by the Germans following the signing of the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the Allies. The arrival of German troops in Grenoble in September 1943 led to a much more violent occupation.
From 1940, people from different social backgrounds, with no relation to each other, joined the resistance and gradually organized themselves.Abbé Pierre, vicar in Grenoble since 1939, was involved in the Resistance, particularly in the writing of false papers, according to Young men who had refused Compulsory Work Service arrived in Grenoble in increasing numbers, and joined the various Maquis in the mountains. In December 1942, one of the first Maquis in France was set up in the Vercors Massif overlooking the city.According to the Museum of Resistance and Deportation in Isère (top floor). On the BBC, Grenoble became the "capital of the Maquis".According to , and the Museum of Resistance and Deportation.
German occupation
On the morning of September 9, 1943, the German occupation led to the installation of the 157th Reserve Division, commanded by General Karl Pflaum. Under his command, 15,000 troops moved into the Alpine departments, driving out the Italian soldiers. Installed at the Wehrmacht headquarters on Place Pasteur in the (Student's House), his priority was to house repressive bodies such as the Gestapo. Then, on September 29, 1943, the SD (Sicherheitsdienst), the security service responsible for espionage in Lyon, seconded its Einsatzkommando to Grenoble, under the command of SS Paul Heimann.. Heimann was arrested in November 1948. A large nine-storey building was requisitioned at 28, Av. Berriat. The 2-year-old engineer André Abry was shot dead on October 6 in the street of Palanka, as he had just placed his briefcase on the pavement to open his garage door.
Twenty years later, Lucienne Gosse, wife of Dean René Gosse, wrote of this period, "The Germans who arrived in Grenoble in September 1943 were no longer the triumphant victors of June 1940. They were afraid of the Alpine zone, where BBC broadcasts were announcing the presence of tens of thousands of young men ready for combat, and giving Grenoble the title of maquis capital. The Germans called this region Little Russia, and as they feared Great Russia even more, the fear of being sent to the Eastern Front aroused their repressive zeal; terror reigned there right up to the end of their occupation."
From December 1943, the Grenoble garrison grew in importance and strength. This was reflected in the relocation of the headquarters of the Reich Security Police, the Sipo-SD (Sicherheitspolizei), in April 1944 to a hotel on Boulevard Maréchal-Pétain,Boulevard Gambetta was so named from 1940 to 1944. and the replacement of Chief Heimann by SS-Hauptsturmführer Hartung.
Resistance activities in November 1943
Tension between the population and the occupying forces worsened in November. A few days earlier, in October, the Milice headquarters on Square Victor-Hugo had been machine-gunnedBy Paul Vallier according to and the Germans saw their immediate collaborators fall one after the other to Resistance fighters' bullets. Stemming from the Combat resistance movement, the action of the "groupes francs", armed action groups made up of the most dynamic and mobile men, constituting the armed wing in charge of immediate action, exerted a real undermining effect on the Germans' morale. At their head in Isère was Commandant Louis Nal.
The people of Dauphiné were called to Remembrance Day at the Port-de-France war memorial on the right side of the Isère, but as they approached the Port-de-France bridge, the Garde Mobile prevented the demonstrators from crossing and pushed them back. Chanting La Marseillaise, the 1,500 demonstrators then decided to head for the Blue Devils monument in the Paul-Mistral Park. Once there, they barely had time to place a bouquetCyclist Bernard Gauthier, for his part, went to fix a tricolor flag on the monument to the Blue Devils (testimony of a demonstrator, Éliane Plaussu née Hyvernaud (1923-2018)). before they were surrounded by German forces, and 600 of them were arrested. Parked in Pasteur Square, visible from General Karl Pflaum's office, the women and children under 16 were released after a few hours but 369 were held at the Bonne barracks, to be deported two months later to concentration camps. Of the 369 young men under the age of 30 deported to Buchenwald after two months in Compiègne, only 102 survived at war's end.In tribute, a street in Grenoble was named rue des Déportés du 11 novembre 1943 (Street of the November 11, 1943 Deportees).
A report dated November 11, 1943, from the commander of the Isère gendarmerie, who was present at the arrival of the demonstration, states that there were "around 1,500 demonstrators", and adds: "[The Germans] deployed in skirmishers and ran with automatic weapons and revolvers pointed at the crowd. Fortunately, the G.M.R. and Gendarmes, who were busy pushing the crowd towards the town, found themselves placed between the Germans and the civilians, which prevented the use of fire that was about to occur. (...) The Commissaire Central de Police, the Major of the G.M.R., the Major of the Guard and the Major of the Compagnie de Gendarmerie then rushed to the German soldiers to warn them not to fire. (...) At 11:40 a.m., four heads of department [of the French police authorities, including the author of the report] were taken to the Student House, escorted by German soldiers with their weapons drawn. On arrival, all four were searched and stripped of their weapons. The four department heads were released at 1 p.m. after being warned that they would be held responsible for any further incidents. While the authorities were at the Student House, they found that German troops had maneuvered and surrounded around 5-600 people going off into the adjacent streets, and led them into a wire-wrapped area near a General Staff building. In the afternoon, the women and children were released. The men were taken to the Bonne barracks."
Unrelated to this demonstration, a spectacular attack took place in Grenoble on the night of November 13 to 14, destroying the German ammunition depot located in the north of the city on the artillery polygone with a huge explosion.According to , this was the second time the ammunition depot at the polygon had been blown up. The first was an accident on June 29, 1918. At around 11 p.m., 150 tonnes of ammunition and 1,000 tonnes of equipment went up in smoke, depriving the German occupiers of precious explosive resources. The blast was heard over fifty kilometers away and incandescent clouds rose higher than the surrounding mountains. This feat was the work of Grenoble resistance fighter Aimé Requet. The operation had already been in preparation for six months, thanks in particular to a warrant officer from Lorraine by the name of Schumacher who, working in the arsenal, drew up the execution plans. Initially scheduled for November 6, the firing was postponed to the 10th, then to the 14th, due to faulty ignition.
Red week On November 15, 1943, the Gestapo got together to suppress these resistance movements with a lightning operation, calling in a team of Lyonnais militiamen led by Francis André. Under the direction of SS August Moritz, they received information from the Girousse couple of the Mouvement Franciste, and decided on the details of the operation in retaliation for the death of collaborators in Grenoble.Interrogation of Francis André, October 8, 1945.
At 6 p.m. on November 25, the operation began with the simultaneous arrests of Communist Party member Roger Guigue in his wife's hairdressing salon on rue Brocherie, journalist Jean Pain in the on Saint-André square and lottery ticket salesman Georges Duron in his wife's flower store on Victor-Hugo square, marking the start of this series of murders. After the interrogation of the three resistance fighters, each was executed in a different part of the town. A leaflet was found on their bodies with the inscription: "This man pays with his life for the death of a national".
On November 26, Dr. Jacques Girard was arrested at 2 p.m. at his home at 60, street Élisée-Chatin, interrogated in a house requisitioned by the killers and executed. Francis André's team, assisted by the local militia, carried out new arrests and executions every hour. Doctor Henri Butterlin was arrested at 3 p.m. at his home at 5, street de Palanka, Alphonse Audinos at 5:30 p.m. at 22, avenue Berriat and Joseph Bernard at 6:30 p.m. at 26, square Vaucanson, All three were executed the same day, and the bodies of two of them were found far from their place of arrest, in Vif for Henri Butterlin and in Claix for Jacques Girard.