A French court today completely absolved World War II master spy Leopold Trepper of charges that he had collaborated with the Gestapo and ordered his accuser, former French counter-intelligence chief Jean Rochet, to pay one franc in symbolic damages and 1000 francs to cover the cost of publishing the court’s decision. Trepper, who was unable to attend the trial because Polish authorities refused him a visa, was informed of his victory by his attorney, M. Lariviere, who telephoned him in Warsaw.
Trepper sued Rochet for libel last April after the latter alleged, in a letter published in the newspaper Le Monde, that Trepper betrayed his comrades in the underground while he was in Gestapo custody during the war. Trepper headed the “Red Orchestra,” the Soviet espionage ring in Nazi-occupied Western Europe.
In finding Rochet guilty of libel, the court cited the testimony of Trepper’s former underground comrades who pointed out that the continued existence of the French Communist Party and other spy rings after Trepper’s arrest was proof that Trepper did not inform on them. The court also expressed doubt as to the “sincerity and objectivity” of Rochet’s accusations.
The court noted that the charges made against Trepper gave the impression that the spy chief behaved suspiciously after his arrest by the Gestapo but “the episode occurred so long ago that Rochet could not prove irrefutably all of his accusations.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
