method – 12 – Archives

Archives – 

Archives are treasure troves of history. The French archive, the Dépôt central des archives de la justice militaire (DCAJM) holds the file on the German SS leader Klaus Barbie. The case of the “Butcher of Lyon”—who rose through the ranks as head of the Gestapo in Lyon from 1942 to 1944 during the Vichy regime thanks to his cruelty—was reopened on the basis of these files and led to a trial in France in 1987.

In this archive, I found Schneider’s investigation file. It concerned murders and looting in Rombach. In this file, I found photographs of SS men in uniform and leather boots. The investigators identified the SS man in this photograph as Hans Degen, the head of the factory police at the Rombacher Hütte, and wrote his name by hand in blue ink on the photograph, adding an arrow pointing to him. As I later learned, he was a regular at the Müllerhaus.

Source: Dépôt central des archives de la justice militaire (DCAJM) in Le Blanc, Indre, France  https://lannuaire.service-public.gouv.fr/gouvernement/9bdb4a96-76ac-4050-b044-a39f015fa9ce

An archival discovery is always a piece of evidence that frees you from the burden of not knowing. And you can learn in this case how propaganda works: Foto left: Germanization in eastern France— foto right: in 1943 near St. Privat—“Honoring the last comrade-in-arms from 1870.” third from the right: Charles Schneider / Source: Musée de la Mémoire de la Moselle 1939–1945 – ASCOMEMO http://ascomemo.chez.com/

Photo on the right:  “Photo of the defendant, Charles Schneider, Ortsgruppenleiter in Rombas”. Source: The Moselle Departmental Archives – https://www.archives57.com/