Maillé, Indre-et-Loire

Maillé

Coat of arms
Maillé

Coordinates: 47°03′13″N 0°34′56″E / 47.0536°N 0.5822°E / 47.0536; 0.5822Coordinates: 47°03′13″N 0°34′56″E / 47.0536°N 0.5822°E / 47.0536; 0.5822
Country France
Region Centre-Val de Loire
Department Indre-et-Loire
Arrondissement Chinon
Canton Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Bernard Eliaume
Area1 15.67 km2 (6.05 sq mi)
Population (2009)2 609
 • Density 39/km2 (100/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 37142 / 37800
Elevation 43–110 m (141–361 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Maillé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.

History

On 25 August 1944, Nazi German soldiers killed 124 people and razed the village.[1] The resultant massacre was the second largest in France of World War II after that at Oradour-sur-Glane.[1]

On the same day as Paris was surrendered to the Allies, an estimated 80 Waffen-SS soldiers of 17th SS Replacement Battalion (17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division „Götz von Berlichingen“) entered the village of 600 people in the morning, and killed 124 residents, including 46 children under the age of 14 and 42 women. Many of the victims were shot, the remainder bludgeoned, bayoneted and burned - the village was then shelled until it was in ruins. Survivors later found a handwritten message on several corpses: "This is punishment for terrorists and their assistants."[2]

The reasons for the massacre are still unknown, although on the previous day a group of French resistance fighters had killed several German officers travelling in a car,[1] and in a separate incident ambushed a Waffen SS column to the north; the district was also at the time safeguarding a United States Army Air Forces pilot who had crash-landed in the area.[2]

Only one person has ever been held accountable, when in 1952, a former German army lieutenant, Gustav Schlueter was tried in absentia by a French court and found guilty. He remained living in Germany until his death in 1965.[2]

Although France has a 30-year limit on war crimes prosecutions, Germany does not and after the massacre featured in a German newspaper article in 2004, Dortmund-based prosecutor Ulrich Maas who specialises in hunting down war criminals started an investigation. After the massacre featured in a television documentary, Maas visited the village in July 2008 to collect more information, and laid a wreath at the memorial.[1]

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1793492—    
1800473−3.9%
1806426−9.9%
1821450+5.6%
1831507+12.7%
1836503−0.8%
1841548+8.9%
1846552+0.7%
1851595+7.8%
1856551−7.4%
1861529−4.0%
1866530+0.2%
1872578+9.1%
1876525−9.2%
1881502−4.4%
1886515+2.6%
1891466−9.5%
1896456−2.1%
1901456+0.0%
1906474+3.9%
1911478+0.8%
1921470−1.7%
1926491+4.5%
1931482−1.8%
1936490+1.7%
1946449−8.4%
1954542+20.7%
1962602+11.1%
1968587−2.5%
1975518−11.8%
1982580+12.0%
1990594+2.4%
1999653+9.9%
2006619−5.2%
2009609−1.6%

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Davies, Lizzy (2008-07-16). "64 years after massacre, villagers of Maillé may get some answers at last". The Guardian. p. 21. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  2. 1 2 3 "64 years later, France and Germany delve into shrouded WW II massacre". CBC Canada. 2008-07-15. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
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