Joseph Le Cussan, a former naval officer and chief of the Vichy militia in Lyon, has confessed that he murdered Dr. Victor Basch, Jewish educator and philosopher, who was killed together with his wife, in woods near Lyon in January, 1944.
Arrested in Strasbourg by French troops, Le Cussan said that Dr. Basch, who had been a prominent pacifist and long-time president of the League for Human Rights, was killed on Jan. 10. At the time of his death he was 84 years old.
The former militia chief is also reported to have confessed to other crimes against Jews and to have admitted that he carved Stars of David on the skins of Jews. An associate, named Mace, who gave Le Cussan a photograph which enabled him to identify Dr. Basch, was sentenced to death yesterday.
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