Kurt Kohl
Kurt Kohl (? – 29 December 1943) was a Gestapo police official.
Kohl was a group leader and inspector of the SiPo (Security Police) and SD (Security Service) in La Madeleine, Nord, the Gestapo regional headquarters during the German occupation of France in World War II, covering Picardy. Kohl's main job was to find resistance fighters. Kohl was known to be violent and was one of the most feared Gestapo officers in France; he killed many he believed to be French resistance fighters. It is known that over 68 resistance fighters were executed between 1943 and 1944 at the La Madeleine HQ. Some French resistance fighters called Kurt Kohl "the chef" for torturing French resistance fighters. Kurt Kohl would often go to local bars undercover looking for French resistance fighters. Kurt Kohl also helped in the deportation of Jews from northern France starting in 1942.[1][2]The La Madeleine Gestapo HQ records were burned on 1 September 1944, as Allied troops were closing in, so details of the activities there are unknown. La Madeleine HQ was inside the old Fort Bondues, also called Fort Lobaux. Kurt Kohl's wife was Ilse from Neuburg/Donau. They lived in Rastatt, before Kohl moved to La Madeleine to head the Gestapo regional headquarters.[3]
[4][5][6][7]
[8][9][10][11][12]
Kurt Kohl's hunt for resistance fighters
Kurt Kohl tortured French resistance fighter Jules Noutour, aka Levasseur, who had worked with many resistance networks such as Gloria SMH (SMH is the HMS reversed initials of "His Majesty's ship"), Pat O'Leary, Maurice Buckmaster, Libération-Nord and especially the movement La Voix du Nord. With Natalis Dumez, he collaborated in the creation of the underground newspaper La Voix du Nord in April 1941 and was responsible for its spread until August 1943. Kohl had Noutour sent to a prison camp, where he was freed in the spring of 1945. French resistance fighter Pierre Hachin (1940–1977) was tortured for 14 consecutive days by Kurt Kohl at Gestapo headquarters in La Madeleine after being arrested on 2 October 1943.[13]
French resistance fighter Eugene Hallendre was tortured and killed by Gestapo head Kurt Kohl at Fort Bondues; his son Edgar Hallendre (1922–2016) continued the fight in the French resistance. After the war, the French resistance fighter's families went to Kurt Kohl's HQ and found two wooden poles in the HQ courtyard, both riddled with bullet holes. In the graveyard, families found their loved ones' bodies.[14][15]
French resistance fighter Robert Lefebre joined the French resistance on 14 December 1943 and was arrested by Kohl. After the war he wrote a book, "Cell 16: Diary of a political prisoner of Loos," about his imprisonment by Kohl. The book also described the very bad conditions in Kohl's HQ prison and how the inmates communicated to maintain morale. He was one of the few that Kohl released early, on 7 June 1944, for helping Kohl as a witness.[16]
Kohl and his HQ tracked down other French resistance fighters, including Léon Fayolle de Wimereux, Alphonse Mann, and Charles Sauvages de Pont-de-Briques.[17]
Death
Kohl was killed on 29 December 1943 while hunting for a resistance group in Wazemmes, just outside Lille. Emile Allain, a member of the resistance group, was actively being sought by the Gestapo. Emile Allain had bombed railway tracks and electrical installations with the resistance. Emile Allain also broke into city halls to steal ration stamps to give to those in need. Allain left Calais for Lille to meet up with other resistance comrades. However, they were reported to the Gestapo by a French collaborator. Kohl and his men went looking for the resistance group. Emile Allain was asleep upstairs in a residence when Kohl and his Gestapo men surrounded the house and awoke the resistance group. In the gun battle that followed, Kurt Kohl was killed after being shot in the leg.[18][19] Walter Paarman became the head of the Gestapo HQ in La Madeleine after Kohl's death. Walter Paarman (12/3/1904–03/07/1949) was sentenced to death for war crimes on 3 July 1949 and faced the firing squad on 29 December 1949, along with Fritz Habener (17/05/1909–03/07/1949). [20][21][22]
Retaliation for Kurt Kohl's death
Arrested for being part of the killing of Kohl were six members of the Cadras 2402 resistance fighters group:
- Emile Allain (07/01/1920 – 03/03/1944), the leader, and the one who shot Kohl.[24]
- Albert Nabor (13/07/1925 – 03/03/1944)[25]
- Jean Baptiste Guelton (10/08/1922 – 03/03/1944)[26]
- Gaston Lelong (23/07/1924 – 03/03/1944)[27]
- Clément Debremme (03/04/1911 – 03/03/1944)[28]
- Remy Pilliard (10/03/1921–03/03/1944)[29]
All six were tortured in Lille at the Loos-les-Lille prison. All six were then sentenced to hang after their trial on 14 February 1944. They were then transferred to the Dutch Herzogenbusch concentration camp. The Herzogenbusch camp commander, Huttig, transferred the six to Fort Breendonk on 28 February 1944 for hanging, as there were no gallows at Herzogenbusch. All six were hanged on 3 March 1944 for killing Kurt Kohl. The six resistance fighters' bodies were moved to Schaerbeek for burial. [30][31][32] Three other resistance fighters—Charles Sauvage, Léon Fayolles, and Alphonse Mann—were shot at Fort Bondues on 25 February 1944 for being part of the killing of Kurt Kohl. Henri Hurault, manager of the cottage where the resistance fighters were hiding, along with two others, were sentenced to 7 years of hard labor in Germany for harboring the resistance fighters in room 174.[33][34][35]
Kohl's daughter
Kohl's daughter, Karin Kohl (now Karin Godoy), was 2 years old when Kurt Kohl was killed. She currently gives tours in La Madeleine. A 52-minute documentary about Karin Kohl was made by Jean-Marc Descamps and Jérôme Kempa, at the request of Gregory Célerse. In the documentary, Karin Kohl meets Ludovic Duquenoy, grandson of French resistance fighter Emile Allain, and they discuss Kurt Kohl and Emile Allain. The meeting took place in a café in Wazemmes, where Kurt Kohl and Emile Allain fought. In 2013, historian Grégory Célerse published a book on Kurt Kohl and the French resistance fighters he hunted. The book's title is La traque des résistants nordistes, 1940-1944 and includes photos of Kurt Kohl and his family. Translated from French to English, the book title is Stalking Northerners Resistant, 1940–1944.[36][37][38][39][40][41] [42]
See also
- Lille during World War II
- Gilbert Bostsarron resistance fighter executed at La Madeleine HQ under Kurt Kohl's orders.
References
- ↑ Collaboration and lies are meant to be blown up!, DECEMBER 11, 2014
- ↑ Landry, Gérard (1982). Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing sous l'occupation (in French). Rennes: Ouest-France. ISBN 9782858824236.
- ↑ axishistory.com, Kurt Kohl by Karin Kohl
- ↑ Stalking Northerners Resistant, by Ludivine Fasseu, July 27, 2011 "La traque des résistants nordistes"
- ↑ Grégory Célerse, La Traque des résistants nordistes, 1940-1944 éd. des Lumières de Lille, 2011
- ↑ The Gestapo hunted and tortured resistance fighters in the La Madeleine region", published 09/06/2014 BY AGATHA VILLEMAGNE
- ↑ Le Nord occupé 1940-1944
- ↑ La répression allemande dans le Nord de la France 1940–1944 - The German repression in the North of France 1940-1944, Page 66, By Laurent Thiery
- ↑ *History of the Gestapo in Brussels, Lille, Paris and Saint-Quentin (2013).
- ↑ Le siège de la Gestapo de La Madeleine (Lille) by Grégory CÉLERSE, Chercheur et historien local détaché au Musée de la Résistance de Bondues
- ↑ Histoire de la Gestapo. Bruxelles-Lille-Paris- Saint-Quentin, ed. Les Lumières de Lille, by CELERSE, GREGORY, book with photos of Kurt Kohl
- ↑ Guide to visiting Bondues musee resistance, Kurt Kohl's Gestapo HQ
- ↑ Pierre Hachin, résistant-déporté du Nord, by Jacqueline Duhem, mercredi 14 janvier 2015
- ↑ Décès d'Edgard d'Hallendre, figure de la Résistance dans le Nord, 2 septembre 2016
- ↑ Quand la Gestapo de Lille traquait les résistants boulonnais, 20/04/2011
- ↑ "Cell 16: Diary of a political prisoner of Loos", by Robert Lefebre, Published by Cambrai, in Bonduelle, written in 1944, 206 pages
- ↑ Boulogne Quand la Gestapo de Lille traquait les résistants boulonnais, by Denis Buisine
- ↑ When the Gestapo hunted down Lille Boulogne resistant, 20/04/2011
- ↑ Leankr, 'The story of Ghosts in Bondues, Lille (those killed by Kurt Kohl) 16 Dec. 2015
- ↑ The Gestapo hunted and tortured resistant in the region to La Madeleine "La Gestapo traquait et torturait les résistants de la région à La Madeleine"
- ↑ The Great Train LOOS, Friday, 1 September 1944, WHAT HAS BECOME LEADERS?
- ↑ axishistory.com, French War Crimes Proceedings
- ↑ Fort Bondues, Web site
- ↑ Photo of Emile Allain
- ↑ Mémorial, Albert Nabor
- ↑ Jean Guelton Bio
- ↑ Lelong, Bio
- ↑ lavoixdunord.fr, Clement Debremme was deported and executed by the Gestapo on March 4, 1944 at Fort Breendonck - Puurs, in Belgium "Soixante-dix après, la Seconde Guerre mondiale suscite toujours des interrogations. Clément Debremme est un habitant de Rejet-de-Beaulieu déporté puis exécuté par la Gestapo le 4 mars 1944 au fort de Breendonck-Puurs, situé en Belgique. "
- ↑ Remy Pilliard Hommages
- ↑ Mémorial, Emile Allai
- ↑ Tribute to Emile Allain
- ↑ Schaarbeek Memorial, to the Cadras 2402 resistance fighters
- ↑ ALLAIN Émile - Maitron, Bio
- ↑ nordlittoral.fr, The Gestapo in Calais view Grégory Célerse - "La Gestapo à Calais vue par Grégory Célerse" 27/07/2014, Nord Littoral
- ↑ breendonk.be, Inauguration of a commemorative plaque - "Inauguration d'une plaque commémorative" March 10, 2014
- ↑ ville-bondues.fr Museum of the Resistance Bondues
- ↑ *La Madeleine. "Karin Kohl in the footsteps of his father, former Gestapo chief", Published 08/03/2014, QUENTIN LAURENT
- ↑ SAINT-QUENTIN Histoire de la Gestapo, de Lille à Paris, en passant par la Picardie, PUBLIÉ LE 03/12/201
- ↑ Lille : quand Ludovic, petit-fils de résistant, rencontre Karin, fille de gestapiste, PUBLIÉ LE 09/03/2014 by FRÉDÉRICK LECLUYSE, with photo
- ↑ Grégory Célerse, La Traque des résistants nordistes, 1940-1944, éd. des Lumières de Lille, 2011
- ↑ Nord Eclair, Le Touquet: c'est parti pour cinq jours de grands reportages au palais des congrès, PUBLIÉ LE 24/03/2015, Nord Eclair
- ↑ "Lille: How an amateur historian has retraced the journey of a Gestapo officer Kurt Kohl, " Un historien amateur a retracé le parcours d'un officier de la Gestapo, Grégory Célerse recherche depuis huit ans les méthodes de travail de la gestapo pendant l'Occupation. - G.Durand/ 20 Minutes
- Rupert Butler. The Gestapo. New Kaiser, 2004.
- Gerhard Paul, Klaus-Michael Mallmann, Hg. The Gestapo – Myth and Reality. Primus, 2003.
External links
- Facebook page for Lille French resistance fighters, many that were tortured by Kurt Kohl
- Facebook page of Gregory Celerse Auteur, historian that has wrote about the history of Lille French resistance fighters and Kurt Kohl who hunted them
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