WEBVTT - 3. The Priest (Season 2) 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:16.240 Diversion audio. A note this episode contains descriptions of violence 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.960 and torture that may be disturbing for some audiences. Please 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:25.079 take care in listening. This series is based on historical 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.880 characters and real events. Some dialogue has been imagined for 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:36.599 dramatic purposes when no primary source material is available. Give 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:48.000 them a father account had heard the words a thousand 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:54.400 times for giving me fai for I have sinned. It 0:00:54.400 --> 0:01:02.000 has been since my last confession. As the priest listened, 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.880 he considered the turns his life had taken that led 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.080 him to this moment. He joined the clergy a few 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.080 years earlier with a call to serve the people. But now, 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.160 as he sat outside an isolated prison cell near Paris, 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:20.200 meeting with anonymous prisoners, he wasn't listening for sins. He 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:26.319 was listening for secrets. The prisoner continued listing his personal failings, 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:32.400 a scandalous affair of broken marriage, dishonesty, lustful thoughts. Believing 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.959 the Germans would execute him in a few months, he 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.759 bared his soul to the priest in hopes of spiritual redemption. 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:43.360 But Father Accom wasn't interested in saving this man's soul. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:50.320 You have a pattern of disloyalty, my son? Have you 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:56.120 also been disloyal to Germany? The man in the cell 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.640 spit at the priest's feet, ranting and raving against the 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.880 knots the occupation. Father Accolm listened patiently. After the prisoner 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.480 had worn himself out, A calm press forward, frightening the 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.760 man with ghost stories about the hell that awaited him 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:17.120 if he didn't come clean. Unburden yourself with the truth 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.639 and save your soul. How have you been disloyal to Germany? 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:31.359 My son? Then the prisoner cracked says a plan here, 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:40.120 it's a prison to help Piere to Bonco escape and 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:47.080 tell me who is involved in this plan. Finally, the 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.080 man who went by father account had found the secret 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:57.639 he was after. It was in. Just a few months earlier, 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:02.639 the Nazis had captured British spy Pierre de van cour Vomcorps, 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:07.120 was a top agent with Britain's Special Operations Executive or 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.600 s OE. He was responsible for leading a network of 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:16.080 French resistors and British agents in the Nazi occupied regions 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:20.200 of France, and his capture was considered a major victory 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.200 for German secret intelligence. He has since become the celebrity 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:29.560 inmate in the prison. The Gestapo had known vom Cour's 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.840 arrest would light up the resistance. He was a man 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.360 full of secrets and if the Brits didn't rescue him quickly, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.040 years of British strategy would become known to the Germans 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.200 and they would have to start from scratch. The Nazis 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.880 had difficulty persuading the prisoners to give up any information 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.920 they had, and so they opted for a more emotional approach. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.640 They informed them of their execution dates and sent in 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.440 Father Akong to give them one final shot at redemption. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:06.280 One of them took the babe, where are you going? 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:21.400 I have not start since that, the priest promptly notified 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.680 his Nazi superiors of the escape plan. The prisoners involved 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:30.400 were quickly executed. Bomb Corps was moved to solitary confinement 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.600 and then transferred to a concentration camp by the end 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.039 of the year. The priests expected some kind of promotion 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.880 for his hard work. He'd been interrogating prisoners for weeks. Instead, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:47.680 the s S would broadcast a different message. Return them immediately. 0:04:48.600 --> 0:05:03.280 You'll have a new target. I'm Steven Talty and from diversion. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:08.520 This is good Assassin's Season two. Being killed would be 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.400 the easy part. Being tortured would be the hard part. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.800 Our intel suggests she is behind many of the prison 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:21.400 bricks all over the country. She is dangerous, so sabotage 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:27.480 plus a little espionage paramilitary operations make things blow up. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.960 The message for Captain Bobby and I believe I have 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:39.679 found the mist of the Limping Lady. Episode three, The Priest. 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:52.560 The VS government begins to intensify it's exclusionary policies over 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:57.039 the years and its repression of resists, of Communists, of Jews, etcetera. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.800 That's Dr Ludavine Brock from previous episodes, Jesus Scholar of 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.560 World War two French history from the University of Westminster. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:09.560 At the start of the war, there were about three 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:14.320 hundred thousand Jews living in France. Once Nazis occupied the country, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.400 the government began collecting data like addresses and names of 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.880 the Jews currently living there. In the summer of nineteen 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.800 forty two, using these lists, the French police began rounding 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:30.320 up Jews across the country. In total, about seventy six 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.520 thousand get deported between ninety ninety four. More than half 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.440 of those get deported. In that single summer of nineteen 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.680 forty two, you have thousands of Jews, of Jewish Men, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.560 women and children who are in turned into this feldive, 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.960 who are taken from their homes, drive from their homes 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.920 and brought to this feldive and then transferred to a camp. 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.640 Now this is a very visible process. It's also very 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.599 clear that it's the French police. They need the alliance 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.120 of the French police in order to carry out this crime. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.520 This very public atrocity set off widespread alarm and outrage, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.640 and as Dr Brock adds, not only does the French 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.320 police help with the mass roundup of over ten thousand 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:18.360 Jews in July, but it also transports Jews who were 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.760 interned into camps in the south of France win the 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:25.080 Free Zone. It transfers them to draw which is also 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.960 known as the Entertamber, to Auschwitz, which is the biggest 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.760 interman camp for for Jews in France at the time, 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:35.120 and it basically hands over its foreign Jews to the Germans. 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.960 The romantic city of Paris was stained with blood and violence. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.520 In addition, living conditions had deteriorated in the years since 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:54.160 the Germans invaded. In food was scarce, local transit uprooted, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:59.520 the economy tarnished, and violence all too common. And there 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.960 were the red was to deal with. Hidden around the country, 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.000 British and French agents telegraphs secret German plots back to 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.520 the UK, hoping to give the English a much needed 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:25.880 edge against Hitler's forces. One of the Nazi operatives tasked 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:30.080 with uncovering the underground spine networks was Robert Alesh, a 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:34.319 Luxembourger priest better known in France by his alias father 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.200 Robert account. At the start of the war, he'd actually 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.120 aligned himself first with the French and worked hiding immigrant 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.400 Jews from the Germans in his parish. He was never 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.440 named an official with any particular agency, but Robert Alesh 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.760 became instrumental in the spy networks, connecting refugees and other 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.800 agents to safe houses throughout the country. But when the 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.520 Nazis took over France, they captured Alesh and made him 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.040 a simple offer become a double agent or be sent 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.640 to the camps. He didn't hesitate and immediately began turning 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:19.160 over what he knew to the s S. The subsequent 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:24.120 rates arrests and executions that Alesha's deadly work made possible, 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:29.000 said British intelligence back months. In an effort to maintain 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.640 some anonymity while he worked in the field, Alesha began 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:39.440 going by a cone. So as an intelligence officer, I 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:44.680 tell people, when I did the work, I never was comfortable. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:50.680 I always had a level of discomfort. That's Chris Costa, 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:55.199 the executive director of the International Spy Museum. He worked 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:59.320 as an intelligence officer for twenty five years. I just 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:04.440 couldn't afford to be overconfident. So the only time I 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.800 could rest is when I was home, I was recovered 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.360 and the operation was successful or complete. But even then, 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.480 even to this day, I reflect back and I don't 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:22.000 know how many surveillance I might have missed somewhere along 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.080 the way. And I don't know if subsequently some of 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:29.320 our sources weren't compromised years later, or people that I 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.880 met with and trained. I don't know if many of 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:38.199 the my Iraqi counterparts are alive or dead. I can 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:42.000 say the same thing for many of my Afghan partners 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.480 that I worked with or I trained, And I'd be 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.360 lying to you if I said I wasn't scared. There's 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.760 no sense of false bravado. There are times where it's 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:58.040 just scary. That's Karen Shafer, another former intelligence operative, reflecting 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.600 on the taxing nature of spy work when you're out 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.440 on the streets, I mean it is a solitary job 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:07.760 more often than not. I mean, yes, you can work 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.240 with others, you might have joint operations, but generally speaking, 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:17.560 it's a solitary life. It necessarily takes its toll on 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:25.120 you physically, emotionally, mentally. Absolutely, there's no question that it does. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.600 I would say for most of us, it's offset by 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:35.280 the incredible sense of mission, the incredible sense of contribution. Alesh, 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.480 on the other hand, didn't have that same sense of mission, 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.080 that sense of duty. He was doing this because he 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:47.599 gave in. He was fully collaborating with the Nazis. Alesia's 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:49.960 time as a priest served him well in his search 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.200 for Jews and Allied spies. He was a relatively handsome 0:11:54.200 --> 0:12:00.959 man n and considered approachable and friendly. He would attempt 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.160 to establish rapport with those he interrogated, and was soon 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:08.240 favored by the s S as a top hunter. After 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.000 uncovering the plot to break Pierre de von Corps out 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.560 of prison, he embarked de Jean France, where he had 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:18.040 learned the details of his next mission from his Nazi handlers. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.720 It was in Dijon where Lesh first met. And there's 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:23.760 really no other way to put this. One of the 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.960 most evil men in history, the head of the local Gestapo, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:35.520 Klaus Barbie. I'll introduce you to Barbie after the break. 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:49.280 Cruis Barbie was the head of the Gestapo in leon In. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.920 So by this point the situation in France is pretty bad, 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:57.480 is quite tense. That's Ludivin Brock again, the French World 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:02.559 War Two historian. His mission is to suppress resistors and Jews. 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.680 That's what he's supposed to do, and that's exactly what 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.240 he's going to carry out. I think he probably causes 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.200 the deportation, slash death of over ten tho people, maybe 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:17.200 almost people. Barbie was so ferocious he earned the nickname 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:22.320 the Butcher of Theone. In one particularly galling case, Barbie 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:26.640 discovered and deported fifty children between the ages of five 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.199 and twelve who are hiding out in an orphanage. The 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.840 captured children were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz. In 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.960 the following clip from our interview with Ms. Brock, she 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.200 makes an interesting and horrific point about Klaus Barbie, his 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.679 Nazi police force and their quote zeal for their genocidal work. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.880 It's interesting that the word zell comes up a lot 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:54.040 in the archives. He's going to carry out his mission of, 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.320 you know, suppressing Jews and resistance groups with great zell 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.559 and if if they act with cell it's more problematic, 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:10.920 you know, if you're not just following orders. Hello, Captain 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:16.560 Bobby Aleft, just good to finally meet you, High hit La, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:24.480 high hit ler. I have been reading reports. M hm. 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.520 Yes you've been the kind of busines this country needs mine. Friends, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:35.240 It's a forwarding job and to impress, Sir gustapo Ah, 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.160 but I would give for an army of men with 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.200 your attitude. We have so many bouncing about in the 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:47.960 streets playing police, no real respect. They salute straight and 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:53.280 enjoys the work. But in you they see a pride. 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:59.120 This is what I'm looking for. Thank you, sir. Are 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.640 you familiar? This's the city of Lyon here alesh of 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:09.560 would you prefer abbey either title? Sir? And yes I'm familiar. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:18.360 Have you heard of this woman? This they call has 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:23.040 a limping lady? No, I haven't do is this your 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.800 Heidenstein's talk about her. She struts all over town with 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:32.080 an injured lake, a major asset to the resistance. Our 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.880 intel suggests she is behind many of the prison bricks 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:42.000 all over the country. She is dangerous m hm English French. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:46.240 We believe she is Canadian, and that is the extent 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.960 of what we know. But she has become an effective 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:54.520 replacement for vombe care and we cannot have another of 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.840 him running around. I would like you to go to 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:03.680 Leon and sniff her out, use any method you deem necessary. 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:09.040 I found that engaging in good conversation is often enough 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.680 if there's more of work to be done in lyon 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.080 beyond this woman. I don't want to leave the impression 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:23.960 we are animals. Animals, yes, so many of our men 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:30.320 are animals. Animals are mindless. They attack to eat, to 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.400 fill their bellies, and then they said, I'm away to 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:39.120 find more. You and I we are not beasts. We 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:46.720 are philosophers, thinkers with responsibilities the exterminate these Jewish rats 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.040 for the good of others, for our children. Never let 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.800 yourself falter in madness or become a machine. These hands 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:01.120 of your skill, but only because it is our duty. ALESH. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:07.080 They belonged to a man, never an animal. Now go 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:17.439 kills at one. As Alash made his way into Leone 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.200 by train, he thought about what he knew of Klaus 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:25.080 Barbie and his methods of interrogation. He never witnessed them himself, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.600 but they become infamous. I should note for you here's 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:31.960 where I tell you a bit about tactics that can 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.680 only be described as torture. So take care in listening. 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:41.000 Rumors abounded that an interrogation from Klaus Barbie meant the 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.520 skin on your hands would be peeled off, starting at 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:49.320 the fingertips, and then doused with scalding hot water. There 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.480 are reports Barbie would hang his subjects on meat hooks 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.800 inserted through their shoulder blades and dumped them into ice 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.320 buckets to keep them conscious during questioning. He had actually 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.120 made handcuffs with inward facing spikes that would crank into 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.840 the wrist with the turn of the key. Every method 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.840 was effective. The Allegh believed the horrifying legend of Klaus 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.840 Barbie had already gotten around France. Everyone he encountered would 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.800 have their guard up. An alleghed like to work in 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:38.639 a different way. Now in Leone, Alesha had to figure 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.760 out his first move. He had burned through most of 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.359 his old resistance contacts two years earlier, so you'd have 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.239 to start from scratch. He'd have to put a lot 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.640 of miles into actual footwork and observe the people around him. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.000 He realized quickly he couldn't approach people as an intimidating Nazi. 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.919 He had to play the part of the kind priest. 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.040 At the time, the Catholic Church in France officially supported 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.919 the new Fishy regime. There was a kind of sense 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:15.119 that authoritarian regimes, the top down authority, are interested in 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.880 working with the Catholic Church. That's Thomas Cassellman, a professor 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:25.840 emeritus at Notre Dame University who specializes in French religious history. 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.240 In the summer of nineteen forty, after Paton took power, 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.640 the leaders of the Catholic Church welcomed the new authoritarian 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:37.600 government with seemingly open arms. So there is a longstanding 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:43.200 hostility between republican regimes in France and the Catholic Church, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:47.120 going back to the French Revolution and the Third Republic, 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:52.040 which began in eighteen seventy and lasted to nineteen forty. 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:55.679 They officially separated Church and state. So if you're a 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.840 bishop or a priest in nineteen forty and the rep 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:04.600 public is collapsing, you're not gonna feel bad about that, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.919 and you might even embrace as in fact, the French 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:14.199 religious leadership did an alternative regime. Their their concern is 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:17.920 to protect their own interests, and leaders of the church 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.960 reaped the benefits. So in the early years of the 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:27.320 VC regime, especially Catholics were appointed to high positions for 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.679 the first time in the Third Republic, and so the 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.800 regime is reaching out to bring Catholics in and they 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:39.840 are happy to come on board. Although the official line 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.840 of the Catholic Church was one of support, dissent still endured. 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.240 Resistance to the regime from inside the Catholic Church grows 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.200 in the forties, but it grows from the bottom up 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.920 and not from the top down. One of the precipitating 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.280 events was the government roundup of Jews in the summer 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:04.760 of nineteen party two. The regime doesn't defend its Jewish citizens, 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.480 and that is a principle of factor, as I have 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:12.919 said already, for the creation of both general resistance but 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:18.040 also Catholic Resisians in particular, it is important to note However, 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:22.159 the top leaders of the Catholic Church remained steadfast, at 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.880 least publicly, in their support of the Vichy regime. Active 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:32.920 resistors remained a small minority. Alessious background is a man 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.680 of God pointed him in the direction of parishes where 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.320 he offered himself as a substitute priest and an additional 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.919 hand in services. Once he had access to a confessional booth, 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.960 he began to work the way he had with the prisoners, 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.119 balancing empathy and understanding with well chosen moments for guilt 0:21:53.400 --> 0:22:00.280 and pressure. Oh my god, that's one of the worst 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.359 things a Catholic priest can do. In our interview with Casselman, 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:09.440 we explained Alesia's methods for uncovering resistance secrets because Elman 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.119 walked us through the gravity of what Alesha was doing, 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:18.680 the sacred code he was violating in a confessionals absolutely 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:26.040 between you and your confession. Your confessor can't tell anybody anything, superiors, nothing, 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:34.159 It's a sacred bond linking the confessor with his confess e. 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:40.320 Confession is what guarantees Catholics who are sentners. It is 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:42.840 their get out of jail card I means, it's what 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.320 allows them to think I'm not going to hell. And 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:51.840 so somebody who's committed a murder blown up, sabotaged a 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.200 train of Germans and killed him. Let's say, and feel 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.560 like I kill people. I gotta confession. I'm just playing 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.840 out a scenario here. He goes to this priest and says, 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:05.879 I blew up a train and I don't want to 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:08.280 go to hell. So can you ebsolve me? And he 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:12.080 said what train? Or can you say? You know? So 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.679 from the point of view of the person going into confession, 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.959 this priest is going to exolve me from my sins 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.399 uh and and allow me to go to heaven and 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:29.040 avoid eternal hell fire. And he's thinking, this guy is 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:31.640 going to give me intelligence I could bring to the Germans. 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:34.720 We don't know what was going on in his mind, 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:41.240 but his behavior is is shocking. It was through these 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:44.919 base methods that Alesh found the neugget of information he 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:59.680 was looking for. Forgive me, my son, But I feel 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:02.280 ass though I have not done enough in this war. 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.480 If there were a way to get involved, what would 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:12.119 you suggest. Do you know a doctor named Jean who 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:16.640 say I do not he is helpful to the resistance. 0:24:17.520 --> 0:24:19.800 We have just lost the man to the Nazis, who 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:24.000 acted there's a girl of salts and we'll say it 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:30.920 needs another m. But the job would require travel. M 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:41.080 Where can I find this? Who say doctor Jean we 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.960 say was a French gynecologist would become a major anchor 0:24:45.040 --> 0:24:49.119 point for the French resistance since the German occupation. We 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:51.440 say it was at the center of the web, with 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:57.600 connections to allies, spies, refugees and safe houses. While he 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:01.000 was recognized by the resistance and British and intelligence, he 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:03.960 didn't have an official title. He believed he could do 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:08.080 more as a citizen. To Robert Alesh, doctor Hussey had 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:11.159 the potential to be a gold mine of information and 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:14.679 could undoubtedly lead him to the location and identity of 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:20.680 his target. The limping Lady Lesh quickly informed Klaus Barbie 0:25:20.680 --> 0:25:24.479 of doctor Roussey and told the Gestapo they'd already captured 0:25:24.520 --> 0:25:28.639 the doctor's career unknowingly in a previous raid. If they 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:32.040 could discover which of their prisoners was this courier, they 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:36.280 could use the information against Dr Hussay and infiltrate the resistance. 0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:40.560 The Gestapo went to work combing through arrest files and 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:45.680 interrogating their captives until they found the spy. Through this prisoner, 0:25:45.920 --> 0:25:48.479 they were able to learn code words that would give 0:25:48.520 --> 0:25:51.840 the Nazis access to doctor Hussay, but they failed to 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:56.159 retrieve any information on the limping. Lady Lesh asked the 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:59.439 prisoner to write a letter to Roussay telling him a 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:03.200 replacement courier that he could trust would contact him. Soon 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:21.520 after the break Robert Alsh executes his opening move. So 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:23.119 if you're part of the resistance, hey, you want to 0:26:23.160 --> 0:26:27.399 keep it quiet. That's Ludivin Brock again talking about the 0:26:27.520 --> 0:26:31.480 risks of joining the French resistance. If you get find out, 0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:33.719 you will get arrested, in turn put into a prison 0:26:33.840 --> 0:26:38.240 and possibly eventually deported. They try to torture confessions out 0:26:38.240 --> 0:26:41.760 of many people, and you can be executed. But they 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:46.240 also they also do retaliations. When a German officer is murdered, 0:26:46.359 --> 0:26:51.080 there will be retaliation. So the stakes are very very high, 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:56.760 and they get even higher by any hint at resistance 0:26:57.040 --> 0:27:01.440 is shut down. You have a famous case called where 0:27:01.520 --> 0:27:03.879 everyone gets killed in the village and the village gets 0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:07.639 burnt down and entirely destroyed out of retaliation for resistance acts. 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:13.240 The Gestapo gave a Lesh microfilm of old German plans, 0:27:13.800 --> 0:27:16.960 knowing that the courier was expected to deliver new information 0:27:17.080 --> 0:27:20.320 to the resistance, but they also had to give him 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:24.040 some small amount of fresh intel too, knowing this would 0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:28.480 ensure Alesh could develop a relationship with the enemy. If 0:27:28.520 --> 0:27:31.800 Alesh was successful and both Dr Russy and the Limping 0:27:31.880 --> 0:27:35.720 Lady were arrested, Klaus Barbie would come to Leone himself 0:27:36.080 --> 0:27:40.480 and set up operations. Lesh saw this only in selfish 0:27:40.600 --> 0:27:43.320 terms and what this could mean for his own career, 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:47.720 so he set out again, adopting the persona of father. 0:27:47.800 --> 0:28:02.679 ACoM we it's father, I can have you treated the 0:28:02.800 --> 0:28:07.200 cats on the roofles. She had arrived at doctor who 0:28:07.240 --> 0:28:12.280 says home and immediately engaged the man in code. Yes, 0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:19.159 but they won't take Brandy coming, my friend. You have 0:28:19.240 --> 0:28:23.240 the package from Paris. Yes, it's micro film. You're late. 0:28:23.800 --> 0:28:26.040 The gush stop stopped me in the cafe where I 0:28:26.080 --> 0:28:29.480 was waiting, but I felt I couldn't move. They would 0:28:29.480 --> 0:28:35.760 search me. He all knew what this. Hoping to get better, 0:28:36.600 --> 0:28:39.320 we need all the help we can get. I was 0:28:39.320 --> 0:28:42.240 worried about it, enne he thought he had been arrested. 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:46.720 His letter was a comfort. Yes, I believe he's become 0:28:46.760 --> 0:28:52.000 ill ill. He didn't say anything about that. Yes, but 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:58.160 would he You know, Etienne, that's true, that's true. Well, 0:28:58.200 --> 0:29:02.000 I I hope he imp moves. Is there anything you 0:29:02.040 --> 0:29:07.440 want me to take back to Bury? No, but Marie 0:29:07.480 --> 0:29:13.120 may Marie, Yeah, I'll give you the address, same code 0:29:13.360 --> 0:29:16.560 to enter. She'll be easy to spot. She has a 0:29:16.560 --> 0:29:20.440 bit of a limp. A limp. She'll be the one 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:28.040 to pay you as well. Huh. And so unless received 0:29:28.120 --> 0:29:31.800 his first heart evidence of the existence of the limping Lady. 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:36.400 And with that, Robert Alesh and Virginia Hall began a 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:42.880 game of cat and mouse coming up this season on 0:29:43.040 --> 0:29:48.920 Good Assassins, you're offering me a post. I don't exactly 0:29:48.920 --> 0:29:54.480 have an elegant hiring history with intelligence agencies. Deep your 0:29:54.680 --> 0:29:59.240 ends are cutbird. The best Nazi is a dead Nazi. 0:30:00.680 --> 0:30:03.960 Let's win the war first, shall I. You'll be very 0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:08.440 busy both aiding our men and gathering intel from the Nazis. 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:27.400 She has a limp. Yeah, interesting indeed, in limp. If 0:30:27.400 --> 0:30:30.200 you have any questions for us about Good Assassins, if 0:30:30.240 --> 0:30:33.440 you're curious about some aspect of Virginia hall story, or 0:30:33.480 --> 0:30:36.080 have any comments on the podcast. We'd love to hear 0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:39.600 from you. Please email us at good Assassins at diversion 0:30:39.640 --> 0:30:44.200 audio dot com. Make sure you spell assassins correctly again, 0:30:44.280 --> 0:30:47.720 that's good Assassins at diversion Audio dot com. We'll try 0:30:47.760 --> 0:30:51.440 to answer your questions on a future episode. Find us 0:30:51.440 --> 0:30:56.520 on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at diversion pods. Good Assassins 0:30:56.560 --> 0:30:59.520 is a production of Diversion Audio in association with I 0:30:59.680 --> 0:31:03.920 Heart Podcasts. This season is hosted by Steven Talti and 0:31:04.000 --> 0:31:08.480 written by Cede Carpenter, Produced and directed by Kevin Thompson 0:31:08.640 --> 0:31:13.080 for Real Jet Packs Productions. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein, 0:31:13.400 --> 0:31:18.360 with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, additional research and reporting 0:31:18.360 --> 0:31:23.440 by Sophie McNulty. Theme music by Tyler Cash featuring the 0:31:23.520 --> 0:31:27.840 voices of mikhaela Is Caerdo, Raphael cork Kill, Lenna Klingeman, 0:31:28.040 --> 0:31:33.520 John Perks, Andrew polk or Lock, Cassidy Manoel Falciano, Sean Gormley, 0:31:33.840 --> 0:31:38.720 Matthew Amant, and Steve Rautman. Sound design, mixing and mastering 0:31:38.760 --> 0:31:44.680 by Paul Goodrich, Sound editing by Justin Kilpatrick. Executive producers 0:31:44.760 --> 0:31:48.959 Jacob Bronstein, Mark Francis and Scott Waxman for diversion audio, 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:08.160 see SIM for diversion audio.