Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris (59 page)

  1
“neither of business nor politics”
PC, 235.

  2
“The journeys begin and end at rue Le Sueur”
Nézondet told his view also in his interrogation, March 22, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III, and in his memoir, René Nézondet,
Petiot “le Possédé”
(Paris: Express, 1950), 71.

  3
“No, I concluded” … “None”
PC 236–237.

  4
“The longer this trial goes”
Ibid.

  5
hat trimmed with otter fur Le Pays
, March 29, 1946.

  6
a strong Slavic accent
Jean Galtier-Boissière,
Mon journal dans la drôle de paix
(Paris: La Jeune Parque, 1947), 207–208.

  7
“the circumstances of my friends”
AN 334, AP 65, 4566.

  8
delightful
AN, 4570–4571.

  9
“Of course, Mr. President”
AN 334, AP 65, 4571.

10
“They were not only anti-Nazi”
Ibid.

11
“as their God”
Ibid.

12
“I understand now”
AN 334, AP 65, 4575.

13
“injections, nightclubs, drugs”
AN 334, AP 65, 4576.

14
“hunted as a harmful beast”
AN 334, AP 65, 4577.

15
“stay put”
Ibid.

16
“an adventuress … who lies”
AN 334, AP 65, 4592.

17
“many difficulties”
AN 334, AP 65, 4608.

18
“came to us to give tips”
AN 334, AP 65, 4355–4356.

19
Insults and insinuations
AN 334, AP 65, 4609–4610.

20
“offended the very legitimate sensitivities”
AN 334, AP 65, 4611.

21
“saluted by a number of German”
AN 334, AP 65, 4614.

22
“Since you do not appear to remember”
AN 334, AP 65, 4615.

23
The judge ordered
Request for Dossier No. 16582, March 28, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

24
“I have not looked at your hands” … “Pétain?”
AN 334, AP 65, 4623–4624.

25
“Was she tortured”
Galtier-Boissière,
Mon journal
, 211.

26
“these equally plausible”
Ibid.

  1
“We respected Yvan” … “To give information”
PC, 247–249.

  2
“Germans, notorious collaborators”
Fernand Lavie in a letter of November 30, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° IV.

  3
“My mother never intended to leave” … “Yet she must know”
PC, 249–251.

  4
“How many witnesses”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 251. Emphasis added. Many other important witnesses were not found, not least of which was Georges Redouté, who had left town. Report, March 12, 1946, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

  5
“Maître, if you manage”
PC, 251.

  6
“How do you explain this find?”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 245.

  7
“The moment has not come” … “Do not speak”
PC, 252–254.

  8
“Very sympathetically”
John V. Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
(New York: Zebra Books, 1980), 268–269.

  9
“Why were you released” … “To insinuate”
PC, 255.

10
“Me? An agent”
Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 248.

11
“you lawyers of the alleged victims”
Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
, 356–357.

12
this chaotic session
The
New York Times
correspondent calls it a “screaming contest.”
New York Times
, March 31, 1946.

  1
“a veritable fire-box of political intrigue”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 255.

  2
“true nest of tuberculosis”
Ibid, 256.

  3
“Petiot was a Frenchman”
PC, 256.

  4
“kill everyone” France-Soir
, April 2, 1946.

  5
“You spent five months with him” … “Whatever the outcome”
PC, 257–258; Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série
, 258–259.

  6
“without any question a real Resistant”
John V. Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
(New York: Zebra Books, 1980), 364.

  7
stylish Paris-Matin
, April 2, 1946.

  8
“I do not care”
PC, 258.

  9
“We’re making a flop”
Petiot repeated this several times when the size of the audience fell. Claude Barret,
L’affaire Petiot
(Paris: Gallimard, 1958), 145.

10
EVERYBODY SLEEPS AT THE PETIOT TRIAL
L’Aurore
, April 3, 1946.

11
“Nazi faun that haunts” … “I do not insist”
PC, 260–261.

12
“he did not know”
This was Petiot’s statement on March 20, 1946, as noted on page 256.

13
“Ah!” she said
Leser, April 2, 1946, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

14
“uniting them in death”
Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
, 367.

15
“I have the good fortune”
AN 334, AP 65, 4432.

16
“Cruel men set lanterns”
AN 334, AP 65, 4474.

17
The members of the French Resistance … “wrap himself”
AN 334, AP 65, 4471.

18
“very curious” … “I do not know if Petiot”
AN 334, AP 65, 4470–4474.

19
“condemn him to death”
AN 334, AP 65, 4475.

20
“the records of the Cour d’assises de la Seine”
AN 334, AP 65, 4006, and Dupin’s handwritten version, AN 334, AP 65, 4086.

21
“Yes, to find as many cadavers”
AN 334, AP 65, 4007.

22
“remarkably intelligent”
AN 334, AP 65, 3306.

23
“I will show you”
AN 334, AP 65, 3341.

24
Petiot made a show Paris-Matin
, April 4, 1946.

25
“modern Bluebeard”
AN 334, AP 65, 3311.

26
“a modern gangster”
Ibid.

  1
“herrings in a cask” Le Figaro
, April 5, 1946.

  2
“in a scandalous buffoonery” Libé-Soir
, April 5, 1946.

  3
Dupin classified Petiot’s victims
AN 334, AP 65, 3385.

  4
“No, Petiot, we will not allow”
AN 334, AP 65, 3444.

  5
“Signed, the Procureur” … “Nor you!”
PC, 267, and Dupin’s continuation, AN 334 AP 65, 3445.

  6
“Let Justice be done”
AN 334, AP 65, 3449.

  7
“the pleasure of a hunting dog” Le Figaro
, April 5, 1946.

  8
“monster, an assassin, a thief”
AN 334, AP 65, 4092.

  9
what really, Floriot asked
AN 334 AP 65, 4119–4120.

10
“executed in the name of the Resistance”
AN 334, AP 65, 4120.

11
“There is no crime or misdemeanor”
AN 334, AP 65, 4340–4341.

12
Madame Braunberger, Floriot noted
AN 334, AP 65, 4274.

13
“opened fifteen times”
AN 334, AP 65, 4277.

14
Could it perhaps be “B.P.”
AN 334, AP 65, 4280.

15
he states it
AN 334, AP 65, 4282; PC, 280.

16
“really something incredible” … “to your ears”
AN 334, AP 65, 4289–4292.

17
“A sample?” … “They resemble each”
AN 334, AP 65, 4300–4301.

18
“hats off for the hat trick”
Jean-Marc Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
(Paris: Balland, 1974), 261.

19
The patriot and hero
Many accounts make Floriot end by saying that he, too, would always be proud of having defended Petiot, but those words are not in the stenographic account.

20
“I commend Petiot to your hands”
AN 334, AP 65, 4430.

21
“the greatest defense summation”
Associated Press, April 5, 1946.

22
“I cannot … nothing”
AN 334 AP 65, 4430.

23
“Is the above mentioned”
Claude Bertin,
Les assassins hors-série: Gilles de Rais, Petiot
, vol. 10 of
Les grands procès de l’histoire de France
(Paris: Éditions de Saint-Clair, 1967), 283; Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 277.

24
“suffocating and reeling” France-Soir
, April 5, 1946.

25
Marcel Petiot was
AP 30.W.4, 17.

26
“hollowing out his sockets” Le Monde
, April 5, 1946.

27
“I must be avenged!”
PC, 292.

  1
“Nothing more can” … “Life is made of”
Frédérique Cesaire,
L’Affaire Petiot. Grands procès de l’histoire
(Paris: Editions De Vecchi S. A., 1999), 48.

  2
In February of 1955
Report, February 8, 1955, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

  3
“cooked the case” Canberra Times
(Australia), April 6, 1946.

  4
“terrifying monster” New York Herald Tribune
(international edition), March 20, 1946.

  5
“dangerous to himself and to others”
Ceiller, Rapport Medico-Legal, July 22, 1936, citing the Law of 1838, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

  6
later expressed doubts
According to John V. Grombach, Dupin “definitely stated that he believed Petiot to be positively insane.” John V. Grombach,
The Great Liquidator
(New York: Zebra Books, 1980), note to page 297.

  7
Paulette Dreyfus would receive
AP, 30.W.4.18–27.

  8
Guschinow with 500,000
Not 100,000 as invariably reported. AP 30. W.4.21.

  9
Relatives of the Wolff family
Despite the portrait in Petiot biographies, the relatives of the Wolff and Kneller families did receive compensation, AP 30.W.4.23 and AP 30.W.4.25.

10
Authorities suspected Paris-Matin
, May 23, 1946.

11
“When are they going”
Thomas Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 285.

12
Anatole Deibler, had suffered
Janet Flanner,
Paris Was Yesterday 1925–1939
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1972), 217.

13
a harpsichord maker
This was Tobias Schmidt. See Stanley Karnow’s portrait in
Paris in the Fifties
(New York: Times Books, 1999), 166–167.

14
“last breath of air”
Rayner Heppenstall,
Bluebeard and After: Three Decades of Murder in France
(London: Peter Owen, 1972), 158.

15
Petiot, mocking
Jean-Marc Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
(Paris: Balland, 1974), 9. Varaut heard the story from René Floriot, in
L’Aurore
, April 30, 1974.

16
“Petiot, have courage”
Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
, 7.

17
“How long is he”
Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
, 8.

18
“Gentlemen, I am”
PC, 294.

19
“I only see”
Serge Jacquemard,
Petiot, Docteur Satan
(Paris: FleuveNoir, 1993), 214.

20
“No,” he said
Marcel Jullian,
Le mystère Petiot
(Paris: Edition No. 1, 1980), 167.

21
“A pity”
Jacquemard,
Petiot, Docteur Satan
, 214.

22
According to Obrecht
André Obrecht,
Le Carnet noir du bourreau: Mémoires d’André Obrecht, l’homme qui exécuta 322 condamnés
(Paris: Editions Gerard de Villiers, 1989), 197.

23
“For the first time”
Maeder,
The Unspeakable Crimes
, 287; Varaut,
L’abominable Dr. Petiot
, 12.

24
“Gentlemen, I have”
Claude Barret,
L’affaire Petiot
(Paris: Gallimard, 1958), 9. C
HAPTER 37
. T
HE
L
OOT

25
“stone by stone” Parisien-Libéré
, July 5, 1952;
Franc-Tireur
, April 23, 1953; APP, Série EA, carton n° 181.

26
“Go where you know”
Georges Massu,
L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle
(Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 213.

27
According to this theory
Ronald Seth,
Petiot: Victim of Chance
(London: Hutchinson, 1963), 206.

28
In early February
Serge Jacquemard,
La Bande Bonny-Lafont
(Paris: Fleuve Noir, 1992), 181–183.

29
As remarkable as it sounds
There were German searches of rue Caumartin, as well as rue de Reuilly, but never rue le Sueur. AN 334 AP 65, 4394. Reports of German visitors to the property were not confirmed by the police, and one admitted visit (they left the lights on by mistake) was from June 1944. Kriminalpolizei,
Bericht
, June 12, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

30
Danos served the gangster
Éric Guillon,
Abel Danos, dit “le mammouth”: entre Résistance et Gestapo
(Paris: Fayard, 2006).

31
Adrien the Basque’s brother
By the autumn of 1944, Jacques Yonnet was also making this comment to investigators. Jacques Yonnet,
Audition
, November 7, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

32
Lafont officially denied
Henri Chamberlin,
Audition
, November 22, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

33
“physician of the pissoir” … “my uncle”
Jean-François Dominique,
L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats
(Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 81–84.

34
Cap Doumia, outside Algier
Grégory Auda,
Les belles année du “milieu” 1940–1944: Le grand banditisme dans la machine répressive allemande en France
(Paris: Éditions Michalon, 2002), 65–66. Lafont purchased the farm in Clavie’s name, BDIC, Fonds Delarue Report September 10, 1944, and September 19, 1944, F Delta RES 787 6.

35
Lafont had just received
Philippe Aziz,
Tu Trahiras sans vergogne: Histoire de deux ‘collabos’ Bonny et Lafont
(Paris: Fayard, 1970), 49–53.

36
Oral testimony
Henry Sergg,
Paris Gestapo
(Paris: Grancher, 1989), 80–82. Petiot also admitted that some members of the French Gestapo had in fact been inadvertently led back to rue Le Sueur in his
Audition
, November 5, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

37
It was indeed this time
APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII contains many reports of the findings.

38
“Dr. P” … “knows everything”
Dominique,
L’affaire Petiot
, 118. Petiot hints that he knew many unknown things about Lafont’s gang on rue Lauriston in
Audition par Section Spéciale
, November 10, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.