- Maillé, Indre-et-Loire
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Maillé
MailléAdministration Country France Region Centre Department Indre-et-Loire Arrondissement Chinon Canton Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine Mayor Bernard Eliaume
(2001–2008)Statistics Elevation 43–110 m (141–360 ft) Land area1 15.67 km2 (6.05 sq mi) Population2 619 (2006) - Density 40 /km2 (100 /sq mi) INSEE/Postal code 37142/ 37800 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. Coordinates: 47°03′13″N 0°34′56″E / 47.0536111111°N 0.582222222222°E
Maillé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
Contents
History
On 25 August 1944, Nazi German soldiers killed 124 people and razed the village.[1] The resultant massacre was the second largest in France of World War II after that at Oradour-sur-Glane.[1]
On the same day as Paris was surrendered to the Allies, an estimated 80 Waffen-SS soldiers of 17th SS Replacement Battalion (17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division „Götz von Berlichingen“) entered the village of 600 people in the morning, and killed 124 residents, including 46 children under the age of 14 and 42 women. Many of the victims were shot, the remainder bludgeoned, bayoneted and burned - the village was then shelled until it was in ruins. Survivors later found a handwritten message on several corpses: "This is punishment for terrorists and their assistants."[2]
The reasons for the massacre are still unknown, although on the previous day a group of French resistance fighters had killed several German officers travelling in a car,[1] and in a separate incident ambushed a Waffen SS column to the north; the district was also at the time safeguarding a United States Army Air Forces pilot who had crash-landed in the area.[2]
Only one person has ever been held accountable, when in 1952, a former German army lieutenant, Gustav Schlueter was tried in absentia by a French court and found guilty. He remained living in Germany until his death in 1965.[2]
Although France has a 30-year limit on war crimes prosecutions, Germany does not and after the massacre featured in a German newspaper article in 2004, Dortmund-based prosecutor Ulrich Maas who specialises in hunting down war criminals started an investigation. After the massacre featured in a television documentary, Maas visited the village in July 2008 to collect more information, and laid a wreath at the memorial.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Davies, Lizzy (2008-07-16). "64 years after massacre, villagers of Maillé may get some answers at last". The Guardian: p. 21. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/16/secondworldwar.france. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
- ^ a b c "64 years later, France and Germany delve into shrouded WW II massacre". CBC Canada. 2008-07-15. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/15/maille-massacre.html. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
External links
Categories:- Communes of Indre-et-Loire
- Massacres in France
- Nazi war crimes
- War crimes in France
- World War II crimes
- Collective punishment
- Indre-et-Loire geography stubs
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