France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940, recognizing the right of German authorities to oversee the French administration. Further, German military authorities held jurisdiction over matters of internal security. In this footage, a German military court in Paris tries French citizens charged with resisting measures of the military occupation. Despite harsh military justice, the Germans could not quell opposition in France, and resistance activities would reach a peak during the Allied invasion of France in June 1944.
A trial of members of the French resistance movement by a German military court. Paris, April 1942. Twenty-three of the accused were executed on 17 and 18 April. [Courtroom scenes] Andre Kirschen, son of Romanian Jews, was only fifteen at the time of the trial and thus could not be sentenced to the death according to German military law. Simone Schloss, who was Jewish, was beheaded in Cologne, July 2, 1942.
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