Le crime des S.S. Nazis à Ascq le 1er avril 1944 : la Vérité sur cette monstruosité – Massacre des Innocents – The Crime of the Nazi SS in Ascq on April 1, 1944: The Truth About this Monster – Massacre of the Innocents. By Édouard Catel, France, 1944. Documentation of the Ascq massacre – the first publication exposing the massacre details to the public. Rare.
Detailed testimonies about what took place in the Ascq massacre. The ‘Ascq massacre’ was a horrific event in which 86 men were executed by the Waffen-SS on April 1, 1944 in Ascq, France, near the end of World War II. The 12th SS Panzer Hitlerjugend Division was traveling by train to Normandy in late March 1944. On April 1st, as their train approached the gare d’Ascq railway junction where three rail lines intersected, a mysterious explosion detonated on the line, causing two carriages to derail. Battalion commander Walter Hauck ordered forces to search for and arrest all males living on both sides of the track. A total of 86 men of all ages were arrested and immediately massacred near the railway line, while another 16 massacre victims lost their lives in the village itself. It is also known that six additional men were arrested and accused of planting the bomb after Gestapo interrogation, and later executed by a firing squad.
The collection of testimonies before us recounts the Ascq tragedy from people who were present in Ascq at the time of and prior to the massacre. According to the introduction, these are the first testimonies received about the massacre, and following requests from many who wanted to know exactly what happened in Ascq, they are presented here verbatim without censorship or editorial changes. This is the first publication exposing the Nazi crimes in Ascq, and as written in the introduction: “We gathered these excerpts in a small booklet that will have the painful privilege of being the first to uncover Nazi brutality in northern France”. Some of the people whose words are featured here were themselves among the massacred and miraculously survived by pretending to be dead without the Nazis noticing.
In the detailed testimonies described here, the massacre is recounted hour by hour from the Nazis entering the village, starting from the night of April 1 with the sabotage of the French train, the torture endured, the initial rapid executions, the collection and execution of the victims by Nazi forces – including victim names and manner of execution. The booklet also refutes claims heard after the massacre intended to blur the act as if the Nazis had been drunk at the time, and their attempts to cover up their crimes. Documentation is also provided on how the murdered were brought for burial, and what became of their families, words from the Ascq mayor on the victims’ graves, and more.
Rare. Only two listings in the world cat library catalog.
22 p. Good condition.
