At the suggestion of a contemporary witness, experts spent weeks examining the ground near Meymac in south-west France. Wehrmacht soldiers are said to have been shot there in 1944. Excavation work is now in progress.
The German War Graves Commission has discovered evidence of a mass grave of numerous Wehrmacht soldiers in south-west France. The people are said to have been shot by members of the French resistance movement. Soil investigations, which began at the end of June, revealed conspicuous suspicious sites that were regularly adjacent to each other, the Volksbund Deutsche War Graves Commission in Kassel announced.
A former French resistance fighter, Edmond Reveil, broke his silence about the mass shooting of 47 prisoners of war in World War II, sparking the investigation. Excavation work is scheduled to begin in the second half of August.
The people who are said to be involved were shot in June 1944 – after a massacre by the Waffen SS of the population in Tulle and in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane. The latter was classified as a war crime that became a symbol of Nazi terror in France.
Former French resistance fighter Edmond Reveil during an interview in Meymac.
Circumstances kept secret for a long time
It was generally known that the Germans and a French woman accused of collaboration were shot in a forest near Meymac. However, none of those involved had commented on the circumstances in their lifetime.
Reveil, the last surviving witness, recently spoke about the events at the age of 98. Accordingly, the human remains of those affected are said to be in two mass graves. One with eleven bodies was already located in 1967 – in silence. According to the AFP news agency, the excavations were not continued at the request of the then mayor.
“After the area investigations and evaluation of the georadar data, we have hopes of finding the mortal remains of the dead,” said Arne Schrader, head of the graves service in the Volksbund.
soil changes discovered
Expert teams had examined an area of around 3,000 square meters since the end of June. In an area of about 45 by 10 meters, soil changes were discovered that could correspond to grave structures, it said. To check this, French and German archaeologists and specialists wanted to do joint excavations there.
The testimony of a man who had observed the exhumation in 1967 as a school child also helped in the search for the second grave. Seven of the eleven dead were then identified.
The bodies of the other 36 Wehrmacht soldiers who are still missing are said to be around 100 meters away. According to the AFP news agency, the identity of the missing soldiers has not yet been clarified.