Edmond Réveil, a 98-year-old former French Resistance fighter, recently revealed a dark secret from World War II. He witnessed the mass execution of 47 German soldiers by his resistance group shortly after D-Day. The story was hidden for decades, but Réveil’s public statements have sent shock waves through the Limousin area of France, which has long prided itself on its history of resistance during the war.
Réveil said he had witnessed but did not participate in the killings. He first revealed the grim details in 2019 at a veterans’ meeting. The French and German authorities were informed and planned to exhume the bodies, but the news was mostly kept secret.
Réveil said his group took the prisoners to woods near a hamlet called Le Vert and that his commander asked for volunteers to carry out the killings. He and a few others refused. Among the prisoners was a Frenchwoman who had allegedly collaborated with the Gestapo.
In 1967, 11 German bodies were exhumed in Le Vert, but the exhumations were halted for unclear reasons. It took another half-century and Réveil’s revelations for the case to be reopened. A team from the German War Graves Commission will use ground-penetrating radar to find the site of the graves.
Réveil said he wanted to “make official” the history of the executions. It is unclear whether he will face any consequences for his revelations. The mayor of Meymac, where Réveil now lives, said he knew of no investigation into a possible war crime and that he saw it as “an unfortunate, tragic act of war” given the circumstances.