In September 1942 an assault had been committed against German soldiers in the Rex motion picture house in Paris. One hundred sixteen hostages were shot.
Forty-six hostages were taken from the hostage depot of the Fortress at Romainville and 70 from Bordeaux.
In reprisal for the murder of a German official of the labor front 50 hostages were shot in Paris at the end of September 1943.
Threats of reprisals on the families of the patriots of the Resistance are related to the same odious policy of hostages. The Kommandantur published the following notice in the Pariser Zeitung of 16 July 1942:
“Near male relatives, brothers-in-law, and cousins of the ‘agitators’ above the age of 18 years will be shot.
“All female family members of the same degree of relationship shall be condemned to forced labor.
“Children less than 18 years of age of all above-mentioned persons shall be sent to a house of correction.”
The executions of hostages continued everywhere until the liberation, but in the last period they were no more than one additional feature in the methods of German terrorism, then grown more sweeping.