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

CHAPTER 9. EVASION

1 “Dr. Petiot was” René Piédelièvre, Souvenirs d’un médecin légiste (Paris: Flammarion, 1966), 78.

2 young and beautiful Sylvie Givaudan, Marseille Police Report, March 28, 1944, APP, Série J, Affaire Petiot, carton n° I. See also Paris-Soir, March 20, 1944, and Le Parisien of the same day.

3 Joséphine Aimée Grippay Grippay is “Josephine G” in Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 137–143.

4 “It was good” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 138.

5 “La Chinoise” Marseille Police, March 28, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

6 By the time Piereschi police record, forwarded from Marseille, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I. He is “P” in Massu’s memoir.

7 “sunny farmhouse” Fabienne Jamet, One Two Two: [122 rue de Provence] (Paris: O. Orban, 1975), translated by Derek Coltman as Palace of Sweet Sin (London: W.H. Allen, 1977), 10–11.

8 Petiot had drawn APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

9 “the same reasons” Report, May 20, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

10 “nearly all the drug addicts” Report, June 29, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

11 “It is through” … “pinch nipples” Jean-François Dominique, L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats (Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 31.

12 “All human preoccupations” … “a foul muddle” Piédelièvre Souvenirs, 11, 73–79.

13 clearly after the skin Premier Rapport préliminaire et succinct, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

14 “The smallest testimony” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 145.

15 “Would you please” … “It is for you to prove” Maurice Petiot, Audition, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

16 “He told me it” Enquête Auxerre, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

17 “Have you seen any lime” Maurice Petiot, Audition, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

18 Maurice hesitated Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 111.

19 “the electrical material” … “I should tell you” Maurice Petiot, Nouvelle Audition, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

20 “As long as” Massu L’enquête Petiot, 114.

21 Maurice Petiot, protesting Le Petit Parisien, March 17, 1944.

22 That night, he and Bernard discussed Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 114–116.