The Le Paradis massacre was a World War II war crime committed by members of the 14th Company, SS Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein. It took place on 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France, at a time when troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were attempting to retreat through the Pas-de-Calais region during the Battle of Dunkirk.
Le Paradis massacre
The farmhouse where the survivors of the Royal Norfolks surrendered
A memorial to the Le Paradis massacre was dedicated on 13 July 2021 at Norwich Cathedral by HRH The Princess Royal. The inscription reads: 'to the memory of the 97 soldiers who died in the massacre on 27 May 1940 at Le Paradis, Northern France [badge of the Royal Norfolk Regiment] These soldiers were drawn from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment, 1st Battalion The Royal Scots and other British Expeditionary Force units'.
SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Knöchlein
3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the Standarten of the SS-TV. Its name, Totenkopf, is German for "death's head" – the skull and crossbones symbol – and it is thus sometimes referred to as the Death's Head Division.
Motorized troops of the division during Operation Barbarossa in September 1941
1943 Picture of Jewish prisoners in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; the SS man at right has the "Totenkopf" insignia on his collar
British prisoners of war with a Pz.Kpfw Ib German tank in Calais in May, 1940
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 146 1974 160 13A, Theodor Eicke
