Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

Notes

PREFACE

1 A thick black smoke Brigade Criminelle Report, March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II; Le Matin, March 13, 1944.

2 unusually warm weather Robert Delannoy to Alain Decaux, C’était le xxe siècle: la guerre absolue 1940–1945 (Paris: Perrin, 1998), 257.

3 burnt caramel, burnt rubber Le Pays, March 5, 1946, and Albert Massui, Le Cas du Dr Petiot (Brussels: E.D.C., 1944), 10.

4 “Do something” Andrée Marçais, Audition, undated, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

5 two-and-a-half-story Many books refer to the building as four or four and a half stories. This was not the case in 1944. The town house had an extensive renovation in 1952.

6 “Away for a month” Charles Deforeit, Report, March 11, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

7 The concierge … informed them Marie Pageot, Nouvelle Audition, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

8 “Have you entered” Joseph Teyssier, Audition, undated, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V; Report, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

9 second-floor balcony Rapport des pompiers, March 11, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I. All references to floors, unless otherwise noted, are by the American convention.

10 human hand Avilla Boudringhin, Audition, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III, and Charles Deforeit, Report, March 11, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

11 one of the younger men leaned Jacques Delarue and Anne Manson, “L’affaire Landru de la Libération: Docteur Petiot 21, Rue Lesueur,” in Gilbert Guilleminault et al. (eds.), Les lendemains qui ne chantaient pas (Paris: Denoël, 1962), 15.

12 “Gentlemen, come and take a look” Avrilla Boudringhin, Audition, March 16, 1944, and Joseph Teyssier, Audition, same day, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

13 walked up to the fire chief Robert Boquin, Audition, March 17, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

14 “Are you good” Joseph Teyssier, Audition, undated from 1945, and Joseph Teyssier, Audition, undated, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

15 “What kind of question” … “I must destroy” Ibid.

16 Sympathetic to the work Teyssier, or “Olive,” was a member of the police resistance group Honneur de la police.

17 Later, when Teyssier Paris-Soir, April 13, 1944.

18 “I still remember” Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 7.

19 “stabbing in the vicinity of Montmartre” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 9.

20 “somber and deserted” … “uneasy curiosity” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 12.

21 The French actress Cécile Sorel interview, Le Matin, March 14, 1944. She did not discuss this fact in her book, Cécile Sorel: An Autobiography (New York: Staples Press, 1953).

22 “The name Marcel” … Dante’s Inferno Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 13, 15, 18–19.

23 a decomposed body Charles Deforeit, March 11, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

24 a polished desk Report, March 13, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

25 His assistants, however Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 23.

26 Commissaire Massu had made Jean-Marc Berlière, with Laurent Chabrun, Policiers français sous l’occupation: d’après les archives de l’épuration (Paris: Perrin, 2009), 140.

27 but he had never seen Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 15.

28 “nightmare house” Massu L’enquête Petiot, 22.

29 “the crime of the century” The epithet would become the subtitle of Massu’s memoir. See L’enquête Petiot, 229 and 244.