Robert Alesch
Robert Alesch | |
---|---|
Paris, France | |
Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
Occupation(s) | Priest, collaborator |
Known for | Nazi collaboration |
Robert Alesch (6 March 1906 – 25 January 1949) was a
Biography
Alesch was born 6 March 1906 in Aspelt, Luxembourg.[1] He claimed that his father was a Lorraine French patriot, who was tortured by the Germans in 1917.[1]
Priesthood
Alesch relocated to
Collaboration with the Nazis
Alesch became an agent of the
Alesch was paid for his information by the Germans and lived a double life.. Jacques Legrand, his second, Thomasson and a number of others did not return from deportation.
Alesch pursued his activities as double agent for the Nazis, encouraging young people to resist then delivering them to the occupiers. He was paid 12,000 Francs monthly, about the salary of a high-ranking officer at the time, and earned a bonus for each person he informed on.
His victims also included Virginia Hall, an American-born agent of the British intelligence service SOE. After worming his way into her confidence, Alesch discovered her section's activities in unoccupied southern France.[4] In May 1942, as organiser of the Heckler circuit in Lyon, Hall agreed to have messages from the Gloria Network to be transmitted to SOE in London. Alesch infiltrated Gloria in August leading to its leadership being captured by the Abwehr. Alesch then made contact with Hall claiming to be an agent of Gloria and offering intelligence of apparently high value. She had doubts about Alesch, especially when she learned that Gloria had been destroyed, but was persuaded of his bona fides, as was the London headquarters of SOE. Alesch was able to penetrate Hall's network of contacts, including the capture of wireless operators and the sending of false messages to London in her name. Many of those captured did not survive.[5][6]
After the war, Alesch fled to
Alesch was sentenced to death and held in Fresnes prison before being
Bibliography
- Archives Nationales (French).
- Beckett, James Knowlson, éditions Solin, Actes Sud (French).
- Knowlson, James (1996). Damned to fame: the life of Samuel Beckett. ISBN 0684808722.
- Le témoignage est un combat, Jean Lacouture (a biography of Germaine Tillion), éditions du Seuil.
- Purnell, Sonia, A Woman of No Importance, Viking, 2019, Chapter Eight (pp. 169–195), entitled "Agent Most Wanted" is mostly about Alesch.
Notes
- Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and with the Special Operations Executive(SOE) britannique.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4088-5766-3.
- ^ ISBN 0-8021-4049-1.
- ^ James Knowlson (23 July 2014). "Samuel Beckett's biographer reveals secrets of the writer's time as a French Resistance spy". The Independent.
- ISSN 1527-0874.
- ^ Purnell 2019, pp. 144–152.
- ^ Bourrée, Fabrice. "Gabrielle Jeanine Picabia, chef du réseau Gloria SMH" [Gabrielle Jeanine Picabia, head of the Gloria SMH network]. Musée de la résistance en ligne (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ Purnell 2019, p. 353.
- ^ Purnell 2019, pp. 331–2.