Vercors : Atrocites allemandes ; Documents autentiques recueillis – – The German atrocities in Vercors (Vercors – a mountainous region in southeastern France where the French Resistance operated) – a systematic search for Jews and resistance fighters, and their murder during the final months of the war. Authentic documents collected by Jean Prevost and Rouviere. France, 1945. An extremely rare booklet documenting the Nazi crimes in Vercors toward the end of the war. A harsh report accompanied by harsh photos.
The Vercors region served as a key stronghold for the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation, particularly for the Maquis group. In the summer of 1944, the Germans carried out a particularly brutal crackdown in the area against resistance fighters and the civilian population, following a deception operation involving glider landings. The villagers believed these were Allied forces and came out to greet them. By the time they realized they were Germans, it was too late. Hundreds were murdered, and the villages of the region were completely burned down. These events are considered among the most horrific atrocities committed by the Germans in occupied France.
The booklet provides a detailed account of the events of mid-April 1944, when 600 SS men arrived at La Chapelle-en-Vercors and Vercors, and from there dispersed into the surrounding villages. They carried out arrests, detentions, acts of violence, torture, forced confiscations of property, theft, and looting. In June, the Vercors resistance center was forced to fight the German enemy face to face for the first time after the area was attacked by gliders that landed 400 SS men on the plateau, taking the resistance fighters by surprise. At the same time, some 30,000 German soldiers surrounded Vercors. After a brief battle lasting several days, the Germans took control of the area. As described in the booklet, the SS troops’ first action was to locate Jews. They immediately executed any civilian suspected of lying about the presence of Jews. The Nazis imprisoned the women and children in one place and the men in a nearby location and began interrogating them. They were then taken to the courtyard and executed one by one by gunfire. The troops continued going house to house and yard to yard, killing on the spot any Maquis resistance fighter they encountered and setting the houses on fire. The booklet details, in full, the atrocities committed by the Germans in the region—day by day, and sometimes hour by hour—throughout that month of June. The Nazis removed all forms of identification from the bodies of hundreds of victims, tortured and murdered them. Bodies were found throughout the area, many unidentifiable. Entire families were wiped out within a matter of days. The booklet also describes the final stand of the resistance fighters as they tried to repel the Germans—those captured were tortured even more severely than the villagers. The booklet is accompanied by harsh photos of the villagers executed by the Germans.
On the cover of the booklet appears a photo of the entrance to Vercors and the caption: “Of the village’s 400 residents, 18 remained…”
Extremely rare. Only one copy listed in the WorldCat global library catalog, in a library in France.
15 pages. Very good condition.
