- Carlingue
The French Gestapo or Carlingue was the name given to French auxiliaries of the
Gestapo , based at 93, rue Lauriston à Paris, and active between 1941 and 1944. It was headed byHenri Lafont andPierre Loutrel .This group drew its members from the same milieu as that of its leaders, the gangsters
Henri Lafont andPierre Loutrel , alias Pierrot le fou, or from those with at least a troubled past (egPierre Bonny , who was wanted by the police for misappropriation of funds and selling influenceFact|date=May 2008, and was also a central figure in the Seznec and Stavisky affairs). Their links with the occupiers granted them many contacts with louche figures likeJoseph Joanovici . They originated from the north African brigade, made up of Muslims devoted to the Nazi cause, which had got involved in suppressing themaquis inTulle .According to the retired policeman Henri Longuechaud, "one might be scandalised by the numbers of 30,000 to 32000 sometimes quoted [as Carlingue's members] ... In Paris, when the occupier launched a recruitment drive for 2,000 auxiliary policeman in their service, they received no less than 6,000 candidates." [Henri Longuechaud, "Conformément à l’ordre de nos chefs", page 58, cited by Maurice Rajsfus in "La Police de Vichy. Les forces de l'ordre françaises au service de la Gestapo. 1940/1944", Le Cherche Midi éditeur, 1995 (page 51).]
Its principal members were tried and condemned on the Liberation.
In 2004, a tv film was produced on the Carlingue, entitled "93, rue Lauriston". Although fictional, it was inspired by real events and featured Lafont and Bonny.
References
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