French village divided as Nazi commander grandkids attend memorial for victims

Dominique Foinant, mayor of Pexonne, speaking during a memorial service for the victims of Aug 27, 1944. Photos: Philipp Von Ditfurth/dpa

When the grandchildren of a Nazi commander appeared at a commemoration ceremony for those who died in his raid on a French village, the descendants of his victims had mixed feelings.

The ceremony remembered the deportation of 112 villagers from Pexonne, in eastern France, in 1944, on the orders of SS captain Erich Otto Wenger.