Paul Le Caër

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Paul Le Caër (born December 12, 1923 in Bayeux - † November 25, 2016 in Le Breuil-en-Auge , Calvados ) was a French survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Paul Le Caër

Life

Paul Le Caër was arrested in February 1943 as a nineteen-year-old high school student because of his resistance against the German occupation (in the resistance group "Cohors-Asturies") by the Gestapo in the classroom. In April 1943 he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp (inmate number 27008) via the internment camp in Royallieu near Compiègne. After being transferred to the Wiener Neustadt subcamp , he was transferred to the Redl-Zipf subcamp (code name “Schlier”) in November 1943 and was assigned to heavy earthworks. After a collapse, he was fortunate enough to be physically involved in paramedic services in the "infirmary" and was the only way to survive the grueling work of the concentration camp. When the SS dissolved the satellite camp in early May 1945 and transported the prisoners to the Ebensee satellite camp , he was able to escape. In the course of his escape, he took the camp's “Book of the Dead” with the names of 266 murdered prisoners and saved it from destruction.

On May 8, 1945, Paul Le Caër came across the Lenzing subcamp and subsequently informed the Allied forces about the camp and tried to help the female concentration camp prisoners housed in the camp.

In the days shortly after the liberation, Paul Le Caër and two of his fellow prisoners succeeded in tracking down Schlier's last camp commandant, arresting him and handing him over to the American authorities.

When he returned to France, he passed the final exams at the Malherbe grammar school in Caen in September 1945. In 1948 he obtained a diploma in dentistry from the University of Paris and from that year ran a practice in Deauville. In 1973 he completed his habilitation in dentistry in Paris. In 1986 Paul Le Caër retired. He died on November 25, 2016.

Memory work

After the end of the war, Paul Le Caër tried to erect a memorial stone for the concentration camp prisoners murdered in Redl-Zipf. On May 3, 1985 this was inaugurated away from the former camp site next to the church. The redesign of the monument was carried out in 2014.

In 1984 Paul Le Caër began to write down his memories. He created a text that tells about himself and his terrible experiences in the camp in the third person. This text developed over two decades and appeared in French in three versions, the second of which was completely revised by the author for a German translation.

In addition, he devoted himself to documentation work in order to be able to prove the violent crimes of the SS. He compiled a collection of all the image sources that could be found about the Mauthausen camp and published them together with Bob Sheppard.

Another field of his memory work was helping to track down SS members who had emigrated to the USA after 1945 and went into hiding.

In the years after his retirement from professional life, Paul Le Caër appeared again and again as a contemporary witness at French and Austrian schools to report on his experiences in the concentration camps and to visit the sites of Nazi violent crimes on commemorative trips with schoolchildren.

Awards and honors

Paul Le Caër received numerous (military) awards, e.g. B. " Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur ". In 2003 he received the " Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria" .

Paul Le Caër was active on a voluntary basis in numerous organizations, for example as Vice President of the “ Amicale de Mauthausen ” and member of the International Mauthausen Committee.

Paul Le Caer Prize

Since 2010 the Mauthausen Committee has been awarding Vöcklabruck an award with the title Paul Le Caër Prize .

  • In 2010 the award was given to Alois Sattleder for his “work against racism and xenophobia and for more moral courage”.
  • In 2011 the prize went to the Attnang vocational school “for work against forgetting and against the occurrence of racist, extremist and xenophobic tendencies in the Vöcklabruck district”.
  • In 2012 the prize was awarded to Pastor Josef Friedl in Ungenach “for his courageous stand in the Zogaj case”.
  • In 2013 the rose school in Attnang-Puchheim received the prize for a solidarity campaign for a Kosovar family
  • In 2014 the prize was awarded to the vocal and instrumental ensemble Mira for "20 years of active (s) and artistically valuable (s) commitment for tolerance, humanity and anti-fascism".
  • In 2015 the award went to the Young Greens Attnang-Puchheim for actions against Nazi street names, for a Roma resting place and against a ban on begging.
  • In 2016 the award was given to Werner and Elisabeth Sallinger-Leidenfrost for their aid to those in need.
  • In 2018 the Franciscan Sisters of Vöcklabruck received the award for their special commitment to human rights and against racism
  • 2019 the prize was "against law Vöcklabruck" for preventing activities of the extreme right to the Alliance identitary awarded.

Publications

  • Paul Le Caër: Schlier 1943-1945. Published by the Amicale de Mauthausen. Paris 1984
  • Paul Le Caër and Etienne Le Caër: KL Mauthausen. Les Cicatrices de la Mémoire. Editions Heimdal 1996, ISBN 978-2-84048-095-2 , 239 pp.
  • Paul Le Caër and Bob Sheppard: Mauthausen. (Album Mémorial) 2nd edition - Bayeux 2000, ISBN 978-2-84048-127-0 , 159 pp.
  • Paul Le Caër: Les Mystères du Lac Toplitz. Self-published n.d. 2002, 148 pp.
  • Paul Le Caër: A Young European in Mauthausen 1943-1945. Published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Federal Ministry of the Interior - Ref. IV / 4 / a, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-9500867-3-0 (Mauthausen Studies 2), 231 pp.
  • Paul Le Caër: Mauthausen Crimes Impunis. , Bayeux 2007, ISBN 978-2-915762-46-4 , 200 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Hawle, Gerhard Kriechbaum, Margret Lehner: Perpetrators and victims: National Socialist violence and resistance in the Vöcklabruck district 1938–1945. Library of the Provincial Publishing House, Freistadt 1995
  2. ^ Paul Le Caer, A Young European in Mauthausen. P. 116
  3. ↑ a b Curriculum Vitea du Docteur Paul LE CAER. In: mauthausen-schlier.com. Retrieved September 17, 2017 (French).
  4. ↑ Corinne Printemps: Déporté à Mauthausen, Paul Le Caër est décédé. In: ouest-france.fr. November 28, 2016, accessed March 25, 2018 (French).
  5. ↑ a b High distinction for Paul Le Caër. In: oe-journal.at. September 5, 2003, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  6. ^ Paul Le Caër. In: campmauthausen.org. Retrieved December 15, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Birgit Dreßler: Monument in Zipf redesigned. In: mein district.at. May 12, 2014, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  8. ↑ http://www.ouest-france.fr/paul-le-caer-raconte-sa-deportation-1049584
  9. ↑ http://www.larenaissance-lebessin.fr/2013/04/16/ancien-deporte-paul-le-caer-temoigne/
  10. ↑ Paul-Le-Cäer Prize. In: salzi.at. April 25, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2018 .
  11. ↑ OÖN August 4th 2010: Sattleder finally warns of a solution for Roma and Sinti traveling through
  12. ↑ Le Caër Prize goes to Attnang Vocational School . In: OÖNachrichten online, Upper Austria> Salzkammergut , May 17, 2011
  13. ↑ My district - Vöcklabruck: Le Caër Prize for Josef Friedl
  14. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/voecklabruck/c-lokales/preis-fuer-solidaritaet_a568506
  15. ↑ https://chormira.wordpress.com/
  16. ↑ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten: Young Greens win a prize for their moral courage , May 5, 2015
  17. ↑ http://www.salzi.at/2016/05/le-caeer-preis- geht-an-familie-sallinger-leidenfrost /
  18. ↑ http://schulen.eduhi.at/orgvbruck/archiv/2017-18/180508Le-Caer-Preis.html
  19. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/voecklabruck/c-politik/le-caeer-preis-2019-fuer-buendnis-voecklabruck-gegen-rechts_a3387969
personal data
SURNAME Caër, Paul Le
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayeux , France
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 2016
Place of death Le Breuil-en-Auge , Calvados