Extortion, Looting of Jews Described at War Crimes Trial
Paul Touvier routinely extorted money from Jews and looted Jewish homes as a militia officer in Vichy France during World War II, according to court documents read at his trial Tuesday.
Touvier, 78, the first Frenchman to be tried for crimes against humanity committed during the war, denied requisitioning the homes and property of Jews in Lyons. He also denied extortion charges, made in depositions filed by four Jews soon after the Allies liberated France in 1945.
Touvier said he was a “victim of people looking for financial retribution after the war.”
“They’re all maniacs,” he said in a raspy, high-pitched voice. “I don’t agree with anything you’ve read. It’s all fiction. (Those people) filed suits just to get money.”
Touvier’s memory was uncertain during the proceedings, and he fumbled for words.
Touvier, former intelligence chief for the Vichy militia, denied knowing that people were tortured with electricity one floor above his office or having worked with Klaus Barbie, the Lyons Gestapo chief.
Presiding Magistrate Henri Boulard led Touvier through incidents leading up to the executions of seven Jewish hostages near Lyons in June, 1944, under the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis.
Touvier is accused of ordering the executions. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for murder.
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