What role did Maurice Papon play in the World War II in french collective memory Free Essay Example, 1500 words

This was ranking as the second highest position in the whole of Gironde region (Golsan 149). Maurice Papon was already a strong leader and commander so he ordered the Vichy officials to be more alert in exterminating the Jews out of Paris. He first thought of putting all the children’s homes, children’s schools, convents and hostels under police observation. He also made sure was police was assigned everywhere where Jews might be hiding. Even though because of religious believes many saints and Catholic leaders complained but Maurice Papon justified it by telling them that because of the country’s defence this is important and at the time of the Vatican city, the pope did not speak so they should also let the work continue. Hence, Papon was successful in exterminating hundreds of Jews ‎ (Tigar 69). ‎. By the summer of 1942, Maurice Papon was successful in arresting about 1650 Jews which included men, women, senior citizens and even children. The prisoners were then sent to an Auschwitz, which is a house that was especially made by the German Nazi’s where the prisoners from different countries were held as captives. We will write a custom essay sample on What role did Maurice Papon play in the World War II in french collective memory or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The house was first build to imprison the political leaders who were proved as a danger to the Nazi’s (Durham 180). Around twelve huge ships were arranged to take the Jewish prisoners to the Auschwitz. This process was done very fast because Maurice Papon feared that the Jews might escape the prison while this was happening. He got so dedicated to his work that out of the twelve huge ships, four were personally organized by him, which helped the transferring of the prisoners fast and secure and a handful of them were the only ones that could escape. Papon wanted to do least harm to the Jews because some of them were also the ones that were living in Paris for generations and some of them were very young and innocent children and some of them were senior citizens who were barely able to walk; this is why he made the decision of sending them of to the Auschwitz, where they will have the slightest bit of punishment or the punishment that all of them deserve. Even though this shows a very warm heart gesture, he is still not regarded for it (Tigar 69). By the mid of 1994, the tables started turning against Germany, which meant that the war was now against the Germans. Maurice Papon started to inform the German Nazi’s about the confrontation. It is usually quoted that Maurice Papon who took many Jewish men, women children and senior citizens as prisoners never let them reach a safe place like the Auschwitz and they were killed during the journey.