DMH Spotlight - Published documentation of André Peulevey and tributes from his contemporaries in the Resistance and the concentration camps Back


And this from the appendices of Secret Flotillas, Vol. 1

Tentative of History of In/Exfiltrations into/from France during WWII from 1940 to 1945 (Parachutes, Plane & Sea Landings) by Pierre Tillet, page 33 of 155:

http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/anglais/pdf/infiltrations_into_france.pdf

André's mission, January 6 - February 1, 1942.

 

 

 


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Marie-Jo Chombart de Lauwe:" For André Scheinmann, remembering network 31, 1941-1942, Rennes. With all my esteem and friendship." See her correspondence with André and her details of how she worked with him

Chombart de Lauwe, Marie-Jo. Toute une vie de résistance. ["A whole life of resistance"] Paris: Graphein, 1998. The preface recounts that her mother's intelligence gathering network, "La Bande à Sidonie" was absorbed into the network "31 Georges France" and what she did for it (André) and how it ended with their arrests, but mentions no names. The rest of the book recounts her experience of the prisons of Angers, la Santé, Fresnes, then Ravensbrück and Mauthausen.

• Arte F: http://lescombattantsdelombre.arte.tv/#/marie-jose-chombart-de-lauwe/entre-les-lignes/ Marie-José Chombart de Lauwe gives her testimony about the network Georges-France, saying, "I went to Rennes. And at Rennes, I was connected to the Georges-France network [described on screen as Réseau Georges-France 31; Réseau de renseignment et d'aide à l'évasion de prisonniers britanniques qui a oeuvré en Bretagne entere 1941 et 1942 / Network for intelligence gathering and escape assistance for British prisoners, operating in Brittany between 1941 and 1942] "….Me, in Rennes, I was most often in contact with André who was the liaison, at the Café de l'Europe and the Café de la Paix, and I brought him the documents etc. And in an emergency, I would go to Louis Le Deuff, the radio operator, at the Place St. Sauveur in Rennes…."  Les Combattants de l'ombre: des européens contre le nazisme (Fighters in shadow: Europeans against Nazism) shown 7/23/2013. http://www.arte.tv/fr/3885730.html Put into book form as Les combattants de l'ombre by Bernard George et Ambre Rouvière. ARTE Editions / Albin Michel, 2011


Signed by Monique Le Tac: "To André Peulevey, remembering the stopover at Saint Pabu on the way to England. With all my good feelings, December 9, 2000 at Caen." •Yvonne Le Tac: Une Femme dans le Siècle (de Montmartre à Ravensbrück), Monique Le Tac (Paris: Editions Tirésias, 2000), pages 124-126
 

"In respectful homage for André Peulevey, companion in the camps of dear Mr. Françcois Rivière at the Struthof in Alsace. David" " Abbé David, author of Du Bagne Français au Bagne Nazi 1941-1945 ("From the French forced labor camp to the Nazi forced labor camp") his inscription in the book to André.


1943-1945: La Resistance en Enfer, Roger Leroy, Roger Linet, Max Nevers (Paris, Messidor, 1991), pages 88, 154, 159, 204 are about André's courageous and generous actions in camp on behalf of his comrades. Here Max Nevers writes to Diana Mara Henry, on letterhead of the National Association of prisoners and families of the disappeared of Natzweiler-Struthof and its kommandos (slave labor dependencies):"I am, naturally, very interested in the memoirs of the Resistor and Prisoner André Peulevey, whom I knew at the Struthof and saw again with pleasure on the day, long after our liberation, we greeted Willy Binkey at the Struthof; he remains present in the memory of many of our comrades. ....I send you all my firendship and hope you will send the same to my friend André Peulevey, hoping that he remembers Max."  

 

•Sir Brooks Richards: Secret Flottillas, Vol 1: Clandestine Sea Operations to Brittany 1940-1944. "The passengers had arrived on after another at the Le Tac villa...Peulevé [sic] an intelligence agent of Austrian Jewish origin who had been working as a radio operator in Rennes in a BCRA intelligence network known as 'Georges France 31'..." ( page 115) "Three weeks later, on the night of 1/2 February, they went back....This time there were only three passengers, the Le Tac brothers and Peulevé [sic. This is the spelling of another British agent's name, a Brit  AKA  the White Rabbit, who was interned at Buchenwald.] It was a bright, moonlit night. They embarked Yves and Peulevé in one Folboat, Joêl went with the luggage and Peulevé's new suitcase in the other.....But disaster was awaiting:de Kergolay had been arrested during their absence in England. Peulevé was also arrested on arrival in Rennes...." ( page 116) This is listed as OVERCLOUD operation for SOE ( Special Operations Executive-the Le Tacs served in its RF section) whereas on page 314 "Peulevé AKA  'Le Neveu'" ( André's alias) is listed as part of TURQUOISE - an SIS ( Secret Intelligence Service) operation. In his mémoir André states how, upon landing, he declined Colonel Passy's invitation to join the French and insisted on continuing to work for the British SIS.

Pierre Tillet: Tentative of History of In/Exfiltrations into/from France during WWII from 1940 to 1945 (Parachutes, Plane & Sea Landings)

http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/ Mentions André and his Overcloud cohort on the dates of January 6 and February 1, 1942 in the encyclopedic HISTORY OF WWII INFILTRATIONS INTO FRANCE: pages 21 and 22 of the 09072014 edition:
http://www.plan-sussex-1944.net/anglais/pdf/infiltrations_into_france.pdf

 

Chombart de Lauwe, Marie-Jo. Toute une vie de résistance. ["A whole life of resistance"] Paris: Graphein, 1998. The preface recounts that her mother's intelligence gathering network, "La Bande à Sidonie" was absorbed into the network "31 Georges France" and what she did for it (André) and how it ended with their arrests, but mentions no names. The rest of the book recounts her experience of the prisons of Angers, la Santé, Fresnes, then Ravensbrück and Mauthausen.

 

• Arte F: http://lescombattantsdelombre.arte.tv/#/marie-jose-chombart-de-lauwe/entre-les-lignes/ Marie-José Chombart de Lauwe gives her testimony about the network Georges-France, saying, "I went to Rennes. And at Rennes, I was connected to the Georges-France network [described on screen as Réseau Georges-France 31; Réseau de renseignment et d'aide à l'évasion de prisonniers britanniques qui a oeuvré en Bretagne entere 1941 et 1942 / Network for intelligence gathering and escape assistance for British prisoners, operating in Brittany between 1941 and 1942] "….Me, in Rennes, I was most often in contact with André who was the liaison, at the Café de l'Europe and the Café de la Paix, and I brought him the documents etc. And in an emergency, I would go to Louis Le Deuff, the radio operator, at the Place St. Sauveur in Rennes…."  Les Combattants de l'ombre: des européens contre le nazisme (Fighters in shadow: Europeans against Nazism) shown 7/23/2013. http://www.arte.tv/fr/3885730.html Put into book form as Les combattants de l'ombre by Bernard George et Ambre Rouvière. ARTE Editions / Albin Michel, 2011

 

• Coudert, Marie-Louise. Elles la résistance. ["They, the women of the resistance"] Paris: Messidor/Temps Actuels, 1983. Foreward by Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier. Portraits of two dozen women, including Marie-Jo Chombart de Lauwe, whose narrative includes her work for André

 

Amicale Action. Livre d'Or de L'Amicale Action. Paris: O.R.I.,1953. Full name of the association: "Association Amicale d'Entr'aide des Anciens Officiers Chargés de Missions-Action et de leurs Collaborateurs recrutés en France." Peulevey is mentioned in the Liste Générale Alphabétique and in the Liste par Départements, Seine-et-Oise: "André Peulevey, 102, Boulevard des États-Unis, Le Vésinet."

 

•Joël Le Tac, Le Breton de Montmartre, Franck Reynaud
(Rennes: Editions Ouest-France, 1994)
pages 109, 110, 111, 118 124 et 125

Yvonne Le Tac: Une Femme dans le Siècle (de Montmartre à Ravensbrück), Monique Le Tac (Paris: Editions Tirésias, 2000), preface by Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz. Includes account of the departure and return of André and his cohort to England, January-February, 1942, and the betrayal of Overcloud. (Pages 123-130.)

Huguen, Roger. Par les nuits les plus longues: Réseaux d'évasion d'aviateurs en Bretagne 1940-1944[" During the longest nights: escape networks for airmen in Brittany 1940-1944"] Rennes: Ouest-France, 1986 References to André as Le Neveu and Peulevé and his network Réseau Georges France 31 on pages 38-39 and index.

Le Camp de Concentration du Struthof / Konzentrationslager Natzweiler: Témoignages. Ed. Jean Simon. (Schirmeck: Essor, 1998), page 78

Leroy, Roger, Roger Linet, and Max Nevers. 1943-1945: La résistance en enfer. ["1943-1945: Resistance in Hell"] Paris: Messidor, 1992. Features: map of the camps; preface of Doctor Henri Lafitte; foreword by Charles Joineau; rationale; four chapters: “Why were we sent there?”, “Before Death, Suffering”, “A ray of hope”, and “Dachau-Allach”; epilogue; note to the reader; maps, photographs, portraits by Felix Faure, survivor. Section about André entitled: "One of Ours is an Interpreter!" page 88; other portraits and passages of André Peulevey on pages 154, 159 and 204-205

 

 

Lovinger, Robert "One Man, One Cause" 6/27/1999 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990627/LIFE/306279885&emailAFriend=1#sthash.c0b1GEHs.dpuf and "He Saw the Best and the Worst of Mankind" 5/15/2001. New Bedford, MA: Standard-Times. Feature article and obituary. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010515/NEWS/305159997&emailAFriend=1

 

Maradène, Georges. Réponses à un questionnaire: La vie dans les camps de Natzweiler- Struthof et Dachau. ["Answers to a survey: Life in the camps of Natzweiler-Struthof and Dachau"] Dions, 1995. Unpublished. 162 pages. About André on page 23: "To be noted, too, that the prisoner serving as our interpreter, who arrived with us on July 9 [1943] was a German Jew living in France, member of the Intelligent [sic] Service. The Germans would never know. He was liberated I think from Dachau and lives in the US."

 

US Holocaust Museum. Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.  Washington, DC.  Lists survivors by camps, including 32 from Natzweiler when searching by "Natzweiler-Struthof": André's record: http://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=4987387

 

André Scheinmann, KLNa, Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah interview #24954,1/27/97 at Boca Raton, Fl. Two video tapes of testimony of a “secret Jew” at Natzweiler, imprisoned for his work as a British spy. Interview conducted by Helen Sendyk, videography by Donna Schatz: http://vhaonline.usc.edu/viewingPage.aspx?testimonyID=27014&returnIndex=0

 

Joel Le Tac on André Scheinmann, AKA André Peulevey
from Joël Le Tac, Le Breton de Montmartre,
( Rennes: Editions Ouest-France, 1994)

Pages 109-111:

The third “DZ” (dropping zone) was named FER 1, simply because government railroad (“Chemin de fer”) agents were responsible for it. “They were made available to me by André Peulevay (sic), my only contact from this network, who was put in place by the Intelligence Service. It was a very effective network centered in Rennes which provided invaluable information on train movements

“This intense activity of course caught the attention of the British...

“At that time, toward the end of 1941, I had inumerable contacts...I understood that the figures allowed de Gaulle to assert himself with the English, who seemed to doubt the legitimacy of his claims...The orders given to me by those who were cozily ensconced in London--recruit, recruit and recruit some more-- seemed to go against the interest of Mission Overcloud.”

....As a precaution, he set a policy of meeting only the heads of the organizations working with him. That’s how he got to know the “boss” of the railroads at Rennes, André Peulevay, the man in charge of FER 1.

“At first, he had everything it could take to alarm me: he was the interpreter for the Germans of the Reichsbahn and those in charge of railroad traffic in Rennes railroad station. He was a German Jew, blond with blue eyes, and he speaks French with a melodious voice. He was known to the world as Peulevay, but his name really was Schweiderman (sic.) He was a strange young man who surprised me by the carefree way he threw himself into the world of intelligence. After having met him in a bistrot in Rennes, I invited him to come see me in Paris, Rue Gît-le-Coeur.”

Joël le Tac was nursing uneasiness about André Peulevay. He wasn’t quite able to get a handle on him, and wanted to find some relief for his anxiety. After meeting him at his home, Joel Le tac put one of his former buddies from Mission Josephine B., chief-corporal Cabard who had just come back from the free zone, to shadow him. Cabard follows through and dogs André Peulevay to the Gare Montparnassse, where he took the train for Rennes. “I certainly was reassured. There was nothing that could create any suspicion whatsoever about Peulevay.”

Furthermore, André Peulevay outdid himself. He asked Joel le Tac if it wouldn’t be possible to have his radio operator send a mass of information collected by his railroad network....”I agreed to put Joe X’s radio at the disposal of the railroad group. I myself put the messages from Rennes into code. “

Page 118:

During the first days of January, 1942, the villa at St. Pabu became a nest of spies. One after another, resistance operatives found their way to the Le Tac home. The two brothers are there, of course, as well as Jean Forman, Henri Labit, André Peulevay ( head of the railroad network in Rennes) Robert Simon (head of the Valmy network in Paris), Chenal, an Air Force officer....

Page 124:

On the first of February, Joel and Yves Le Tac board the MGB submarine chasing vessel. André Peulevay, the head of the railroad network in Rennes, the Intelligence Service network which Joel was collaborating with, accompanied them in the crossing that returned them to the coast of Brittany. He’s got a brand new radio. Each has a great deal to do in the weeks to come. André Peulevay of course heads straight back to Rennes...."

____________________________________________

The commemorative volume of the survivors’ group for the Action network describes what they call “ The last Overcloud operation”:


.... ‘Yves in a canoe with Peulevay as his passenger, Joel in the other with the baggage, came to land on an enormous sand bank ...a blindingly moonlit night...’

.....Not knowing it, Overcloud was living its last hours...it had been betrayed....André Peulevay was the first to fall, on the 2nd of February, into the mousetrap.”

 

 

 

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