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Policing Occupied Countries: Gendarmes and Populations Facing Security Needs (1940–1944, Hainaut/Nord-Pas-de-Calais)

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Doing Justice In Wartime

Part of the book series: Studies in the History of Law and Justice ((SHLJ,volume 19))

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Abstract

The German occupation from 1940 to 1944 was a paroxysmal crisis that led to a redefinition of security policies and practices within destructured societies. That situation created the need to reinvent the paradigm of protecting people and property faced with the new security conditions brought on by the multiplication of sources of law and of authors of violence as well as by new regulations. A delicate equation came to be established between the population, civil and military servants, the occupying authorities and those occupied: the boundaries of tolerance, repression and protection were blurred, whereas new behaviours and new categories of the population were criminalised, and living conditions deteriorated. This study concentrates on relations between gendarmes, populations and authorities during the 1940–1944 occupation, by proposing a cross-border approach that involves the Hainaut province in Belgium and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France. It aims to understand when and how the gendarmes redesigned their professional practices during the war. The key question is to evaluate the impact of the occupation on relations and interactions between gendarmes and civil populations when the first are policing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We must note that the attachment of Nord-Pas-de-Calais to MBB (Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien) instead of MBF (Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich) has no consequence on gendarmerie matters. Indeed, the French hierarchy of the institution in Paris will always be involved in the action and organisation of the 1st Gendarmerie Légion, around Lille, dealing with the German administration in Paris (Cazals 1994). About the difference between MBB and MBF related to the Nord, see Wouters (2005).

  2. 2.

    For the Belgian case, the analysis is made with gendarmerie reports from La Louvière and Mons districts to Public Prosecutor of Mons (Mons, State Archives [hereafter AEMons], Parquet du Procureur du Roi, 725–727) and with Compagnie de gendarmerie de Charleroi reports (Brussels, Study Centre War and Society [hereafter CEGESOMA], Instruction en provenance du Parquet de Charleroi et du district de gendarmerie de Charleroi 1940–1943, AA 2072). For the French case, we use for the analysis the registres de correspondance (correspondence registers) from Nord and from Pas-de-Calais compagnies and also registers from the first légion de gendarmerie de Lille (Vincennes, Service historique de la défense, département gendarmerie nationale [hereafter SHD-DGN], 59E, 62E and 1D1). We also mobilise archives from the Direction générale de la gendarmerie nationale/General Directorate from French Gendarmerie (SHD-DGN, 1A).

  3. 3.

    After the 1940 military campaign, some areas in France—such as the Nord Departement—or in Belgium lacked any gendarme presence, due to retreat or military operations. The gendarmerie re-implantation remained a subject much discussed between German and National authorities during the occupation: occupying authorities using the situation to pressure the occupied authorities in order to get better cooperation. The re-implantation of gendarmeries only ended in April 1941 with the 1st gendarmerie legion (AEMons, Parquets du Procureur du Roi, dossier relatif à la réinstallation du groupe territorial de gendarmerie de Mons, n° 730; SHD-DGN, 1D1 1, historique de la légion (1940–1946), [11/1952]).

  4. 4.

    Brussels, State Archives, Fonds de l’activité du HCSE, AA 1311, n° 2008, corps de gendarmerie. Situation à la date du 15 septembre 1943, s.d.; Brussels, Police Museum, Fonds École de Tervueren, carton n° 1, cadre des officiers de gendarmerie [06/1942].

  5. 5.

    Paris, National Archives [hereafter NA], Secrétariat général du gouvernement et services du Premier ministre, F60 501, lettre de l’Amiral Darland au général Huntziger, n° 3994/SCa, 13 September 1941.

  6. 6.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 237–275.

  7. 7.

    The long-term impact of the miners’s strike in Nord-Pas-de-Calais in May–June 1941 must be considered (Dejonghe and Le Maner 1999).

  8. 8.

    For the case in France, similar in many ways, see Chesnais (1976), Capdevila (1999: 124–137) and Berlière and Liaigre (2012).

  9. 9.

    See Jan Julia Zurné’s contribution in this volume.

  10. 10.

    Like the plan ‘maintien de l’ordre’, in the French gendarmerie, which was activated after the Normandy landing, in order to protect gendarmes or their families from resistance attacks. It was also activated in order to group the units in some cities to avoid desertions in favour of the French resistance (SHD-DGN, 1A 482, note faisant ressortir la situation d’ensemble de la gendarmerie de la zone sud à la date du 10 juin à 18 heures, 10 June 1944). In Belgium it is also possible to observe traces of such plan during the first half of the year (Van Geet 1992, 185–188).

  11. 11.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 482, note aux commandants de légion [06/1944].

  12. 12.

    AEMons, Parquet du Procureur du Roi, compagnie La Louvière, 726, rapport n° 604 du commandant de compagnie au Procureur du Roi, 8 April 1943.

  13. 13.

    AEMons, Parquet du Procureur du Roi, compagnie La Louvière, 726, rapport n° 1944 du commandant de compagnie au Procureur du Roi, 7 Octber 1943.

  14. 14.

    AEMons, Parquet du Procureur du Roi, compagnie La Louvière, 726, rapport n° 854 du commandant de compagnie au Procureur du Roi, 8 May 1944.

  15. 15.

    AEMons, Parquet du Procureur du Roi, compagnie La Louvière, 726, rapport n° 1593 du commandant de compagnie au Procureur du Roi, 7 August 1944.

  16. 16.

    E.g., Police Museum, dossier individuel maréchal des logis L., rapport du SE, 26 October 1945.

  17. 17.

    The same can be seen in France. See, e.g., SHD-DGN, 1A 34.

  18. 18.

    Paris, NA, GPRF, Quatrième et Cinquième République. De Gaulle avant 1959, sous-série 3 AG, n° 346, document ‘la gendarmerie ne doit pas scruter sa conscience’. Copie d’un ordre du 9 Juin 1943, 27 July 1943.

  19. 19.

    Police Museum, Fonds Tervueren, boîte n° 2, compte-rendu de la visite du colonel Van Coppenolle à Arlon, 4 March 1943. This idea was developped after the war by Van Coppenolle in several texts he wrote (Van Coppenolle 1953, s.d.).

  20. 20.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 482, Général Martin aux unités, 12 June 1944.

  21. 21.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 482, Général Martin au général commandant la gendarmerie de l’Ile de France, 22 June 1944.

  22. 22.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 482, note aux commandants de légion, 11 June 1944.

  23. 23.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 482 and 483.

  24. 24.

    Brussels, Palace of Justice, Archives de l’Auditorat militaire, dossier colonel Van Coppenolle, boîte n° 5, note n° 2405 du commandant de corps de la gendarmerie, 6 August 1943.

  25. 25.

    Cfr. supra concerning the French ‘plan du maintien de l’ordre’, or specific instructions for Belgian gendarmes of Charleroi and Mons areas (AEMons, Parquet du Procureur du Roi, n° 725–727).

  26. 26.

    SHD-DGN, 1D1 23, R/4 légion de Lille, rapport n° 1/4 du colonel Demougin sur l’état d’esprit du personnel, 6 October 1944.

  27. 27.

    In France, it is possible to estimate that 50 gendarmes were executed by the resistance before the liberation (Cazals 2001, 171).

  28. 28.

    SHD-DGN, 1D1 12, R/2 légion de Lille, note n° 739/2, 28 February 1945.

  29. 29.

    SHD-DGN, 1A 181, note n° 78/4, rapport du sous-lieutenant Millischer sur l’exécution du lieutenant Fleurose, 19 May 1945 and 1A 224, n° 43, rapport n° 76/4 du sous-lieutenant Garçon, commandant la section de Béthune, 19 April 1945.

  30. 30.

    Jambes, Collection privée du colonel Claessens, doc 468.

  31. 31.

    SHD-DGN, 1D1 16, note°3591, rapport du colonel Pellegrin sur les résultats des travaux de la CE de la 1ère légion de gendarmerie, 17 August 1945.

  32. 32.

    A freedom of speech that must be critically interpreted by the researcher. Ideological, political or personal motivations can indeed strongly influence the argumentation.

  33. 33.

    A notion that must be discussed in each case.

  34. 34.

    SHD-DGN, 1D1 11, R/2 légion Lille, note n° 158/2, 12 January 1945.

  35. 35.

    SHD-DGN, 62E 123, R/2 section Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, note n° 215/2, 6 March 1945.

  36. 36.

    SHD-DGN, 62E 123, R/2 section Saint-Pol, note n° 147/2, 4 November 1944.

  37. 37.

    Police Museum, dossier individuel gendarme D., lettre du général Leroy au commandant du groupe territorial de Mons, 1 July 1947.

  38. 38.

    The rapports sur d’état d’esprit du personnel of the Lille gendarmerie légion testify to the progressive normalization of confidence between gendarmes and citizens (see SHD-DGN, 1D1 23, R/4 légion de Lille).

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  1. Centre Interuniversitaire d’études québécoises, Université du Québec à Trois-rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada

    Jonas Campion

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  1. CegeSoma/Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium

    Mélanie Bost

  2. Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Antoon Vrints

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Campion, J. (2021). Policing Occupied Countries: Gendarmes and Populations Facing Security Needs (1940–1944, Hainaut/Nord-Pas-de-Calais). In: Bost, M., Vrints, A. (eds) Doing Justice In Wartime. Studies in the History of Law and Justice, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72050-6_6

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