Role of Maurice Papon in French Collective Memory - Research Paper Example

Number] What role did Maurice Papon play in the World War II in French collective memory? Maurice Papon was born in September’10th 1910 and died in February’17th 2007. He was a cabinet minister in France who by the way was also found guilty of being involved in crimes against humanity because he had played a huge role in deporting the Jews from France during World War II and later he became one of the French Nazis. He was named the chief of Paris police. The year of the Paris massacre, he was personally awarded with the legion of Honour by the French president, who at that time was struggling into improving his government. Despite all his status in the government officials it is believed that Maurice Papon was charged as torturing the insurgent prisoners (Bassiouni 329). After the Paris Massacre in 1961 his life did turn some tables around. It is believed that the Jews that were shot by the police during the Paris massacre were because of him since he was the officer in command. By May, 1981 the charges against Papon were proving to be correct in one way or the other. A newspaper also published a signed document by Maurice Papon which stated that he was responsible for the Jewish to be deported which is why he could not any longer stand by his posts. Maurice Papon was forced to resign because of the abuses and the allegations laid on him by the French government after the Paris massacre (Beigbeder 221). He was rewarded with ten years imprisonment until his charges slowly started fading away and his punish got a little lighter because of lack of evidence. During the changing of location of the prisoners, it is believed that Maurice Papon wanted them to be in a safer place where they would not be harmed much and it is believed that many people did not see the good side of Maurice Papon here but then again controversies say that he actually wanted to get them away as far as possible and as out of sight as possible so that they could be killed under his command ‎ (Mathúna, 1998). ‎ During World War II, Maurice Papon was young only about 26 years old but he was still serving as a senior police official. He also collaborated with the German Nazi Corporation who at that time was responsible for the deporting or helping in deporting the Jews. Maurice Papon held in a strong command and because of that around 1560 Jewish were deported, including men, women, children and senior citizens. By the time it was August 1944, 1600 Jewish men, women, children and senior citizens. While Maurice Papon was only aged 31 years old, he had been already serving as an administrative officer for the Bordeaux prefecture. This was ranking as the second highest position in the whole of Gironde region (Golsan 149). Maurice Papon was already a strong leader and commander so he ordered the Vichy officials to be more alert in exterminating the Jews out of Paris. He first thought of putting all the children’s homes, children’s schools, convents and hostels under police observation. He also made sure was police was assigned everywhere where Jews might be hiding. Even though because of religious believes many saints and Catholic leaders complained but Maurice Papon justified it by telling them that because of the country’s defence this is important and at the time of the Vatican city, the pope did not speak so they should also let the work continue. Hence, Papon was successful in exterminating hundreds of Jews ‎ (Tigar 69). ‎. By the summer of 1942, Maurice Papon was successful in arresting about 1650 Jews which included men, women, senior citizens and even children. The prisoners were then sent to an Auschwitz, which is a house that was especially made by the German Nazi’s where the prisoners from different countries were held as captives. The house was first build to imprison the political leaders who were proved as a danger to the Nazi’s (Durham 180). Around twelve huge ships were arranged to take the Jewish prisoners to the Auschwitz. This process was done very fast because Maurice Papon feared that the Jews might escape the prison while this was happening. He got so dedicated to his work that out of the twelve huge ships, four were personally organized by him, which helped the transferring of the prisoners fast and secure and a handful of them were the only ones that could escape. Papon wanted to do least harm to the Jews because some of them were also the ones that were living in Paris for generations and some of them were very young and innocent children and some of them were senior citizens who were barely able to walk; this is why he made the decision of sending them of to the Auschwitz, where they will have the slightest bit of punishment or the punishment that all of them deserve. Even though this shows a very warm heart gesture, he is still not regarded for it (Tigar 69). By the mid of 1994, the tables started turning against Germany, which meant that the war was now against the Germans. Maurice Papon started to inform the German Nazi’s about the confrontation. It is usually quoted that Maurice Papon who took many Jewish men, women children and senior citizens as prisoners never let them reach a safe place like the Auschwitz and they were killed during the journey. But he managed to keep it a secret from the other country officials which led him to gain the title of “Carte d’Ancien Combattant de la Resistance” which means “Map Veteran of Resistance” in English. It is also said that General Charles de Gaulle was in the conspiracy which also helped make Maurice Papon the cabinet minister. In 1961, during the Paris massacre many of the Jews that were held prisoner were killed by some French Policemen. The prime suspect was Maurice Papon because the Prisoners were held prisoners under the command and supervision of Maurice Papon. There was no evidence of Maurice Papon being innocent which is why he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. But soon there was lack of evidence where he was nowhere to be found guilty which is why his punishment became a little light on him (Mathúna, 1998). Many supporter of Maurice Papon say that he was innocent and he actually helped the Jewish get out of the hands of the harsh Paris police especially because there were many innocent children and women and elderly citizens which could not even stand on their own, this is why he decided on sending the prisoners away to the Auschwitz where they can be treated fair and square. But yet again many controversies say that he only pretended to send away as fast as he could just so he can accomplish the plan of having them killed during the journey and make some stories up (BBC News, World Edition). Somewhere it is also believed that after coming into collaboration with the German Nazis, Maurice Papon would transfer the secrets of the French Nazis to the German Nazis which would ruin the whole point of war for France and in a way he started cheating on his country. It is also believed that the people who started the Paris massacre were mysteriously disappeared and most of them were also found dead. There is no suspect besides the same Maurice Papon to this incident as well. Nobody knows the exact number of unknown that died in the Paris massacre but summing up all the witnesses it is believed that about 200 protestors died of which only a few bodies were found, rest is not sure whether they were taken as captives and alive the whole time or were they killed and the bodies were hidden. During the trial Maurice Papon’s defence for himself was saying that he did not have control to over what happened to the Jews. He also claimed to be working for the French resistance and they gave him the orders of not reacting on the Jew situation, hence, he is not guilty. He also claimed that all the documents, even the ones that were signed by him, were false and made up just to prove him guilty (Beigbeder 221). Overall, it is said that Maurice Papon was somewhere a good person as well as he was in trouble because of some incidents. In 2002 he was eventually released from prison because of his extremely sick health and because he had many witnesses in favour and not many evidence and witness against him. Maurice Papon probably did a good thing by not letting the Jewish stay because he had to evacuate the Jewish out his own homeland sooner or later. He picked at that very point and also during the world war many innocent people died because of the war and maybe a few more didn’t hurt. To this date nobody knows whether Maurice Papon was innocent or not, it is said that during his three month long, first trial he constantly tried to prove himself innocent and also in the second trial he tried to prove himself innocent, which is usual for every guilty. But it was also noted that he constantly tried to prove himself innocent in the prison but after his health started to weaken, he stopped saying everything that he could to defend his name. Maurice Papon has surely written history, in a good and bad way. Work Cited Bassiouni, Cherif. International Criminal Law, Volume III: International Enforcement. London: BRILL, 2008. Print. BBC News. Maurice Papon: Haunted by the past. 18 September, 2002. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Beigbeder, Yves. Judging War Crimes and Torture: French Justice and International Criminal Tribunals and Commissions (1940-2005). Paris: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006. Print. Durham, Helen and McCormack, Timothy L. H. The Changing Face of Conflict and the Efficacy of International Law. Paris: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1999. Print. Golsan, Richard, J. The Papon Affair: Memory and Justice on Trial. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Mathúna, Sean Mac. Papon and the killing of 200 Algerians in Paris during 1961. 1998. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Tigar, Michael E. Thinking about Terrorism: The Threat to Civil Liberties in a Time of National Emergency. US: American Bar Association, 2007. Print. Read More