2023-08-28 14:46:38
On August 27, 1944, 112 inhabitants of Pexonne (Meurthe-et-Moselle) were arrested by the German army in their village. Three had been shot on the spot and 78 deported to the Mauthausen camp. Only 15 of them had survived their deportation. 79 years to the day later, the annual ceremony organized to maintain the flame of remembrance in tribute to the victims welcomed this Sunday for the first time noticed guests.
They are three grandchildren of Erich Wenger, the SS captain considered responsible for the roundup of victims ordered to fight against the local resistance maquis. Anne, her sister Christine, two French women, and their German cousin Sacha met the descendants of their grandfather’s victims. It was at their request that they attended the ceremony.
A manager never worried
“We are here to say: ‘We recognize your pain’, explained Anne, 54, who did not wish to give her last name. At no moment, [Erich Wenger] apologized for his actions”. The SS officer has indeed benefited from three dismissals before the courts in France and the procedure targeting him in Germany has been closed, said Guillaume Maisse, grandson of Georges Belin, one of the deceased roundups.
The three descendants of the soldier did not make an official declaration during the ceremony, for which some 300 people had made the trip, against a hundred in previous years. Anne said she was “impressed” by the number of participants. The mayor of Pexonne, Dominique Foinant, described his exchanges with visitors as “a great moment of [son] mandate. Unforgettable “.
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