205:, and a French colonel, Leon Faye, he tried to escape in late 1943 by climbing out the skylight of his room onto the roof of the building, but the three were soon recaptured. Kieffer threatened to shoot them, but relented on condition that they gave their word of honor not to attempt another escape. Khan and Faye declined; but Starr gave his word. Khan and Faye were sent to concentration camps in Germany and later executed.
196:, a man more dedicated to persuasion than torture. Kieffer persuaded Starr to use his artistic talents to redraw a map and some charts of SOE operations in France. In return, Starr was given a private room in the building and dined in the officer's mess which served excellent food. Another SOE prisoner at 84 Avenue Foch was
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After the escape attempt, Starr again became friendly with the
Germans, even going out to restaurants with some of them and on an operation to identify the bodies of British airmen who had been shot down near Paris. He helped the SD send bogus wireless messages by correcting spelling and editing
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who told Starr that the
Germans knew everything about SOE and that nothing he said would be news to them. Starr justified his cooperation with the SD by saying he was gathering information on SD operations that would be useful to SOE if he could escape. Along with SOE wireless operator,
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Starr testified at the war crimes trial of Josef
Kieffer. He said that Kieffer had not mistreated prisoners and that he did not believe that Kieffer would "take part in the deliberate murder of British prisoners." Kieffer was found guilty and hanged.
120:. Starr learned from Churchill and his own experience that CARTE was largely a fantasy of Girard's. He returned to England in November. Oddly enough, as he was boarding a small boat to slip out of France, he encountered his older brother
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On 18 July 1943 Starr was captured by the
Germans after being betrayed by a Frenchman he had recruited. He attempted to escape en route to a prison in Dijon and was shot twice in the thigh and foot. He was placed in the custody of the
43:. The purpose of SOE in occupied France was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
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on 18 July 1943 and imprisoned for the remainder of the war. After World War II, Starr was accused by several other SOE agents of collaboration with the
Germans while he was a captive. John Starr's brother
108:, a resistance group which claimed that, with SOE support, it could raise an army of 300,000 men to resist the German occupation of France. Starr made his way from Valence to a villa in
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investigation, which concluded that although his behaviour was suspicious, there were no grounds for criminal prosecution. After the war, Starr opened a night-club in
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Stories from other SOE agents who shared his captivity at Avenue Foch resulted in doubts being raised about Starr's loyalty, and his case became the subject of an
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Starr was held in high regard by SOE and, along with a wireless operator, John Young, he parachuted into France again on the night of 15–16 May 1943, landing near
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181:. In Dijon, he said the Germans tortured him by beating on his wounded thigh but he didn't reveal any significant information to them. He was transferred to
277:, with Alfred and Henry Newton, SOE agents (and brothers) whom he had met during his training and also at the Avenue Foch. The brothers had been at
71:. He studied art in Paris and in 1934 he married a French woman, Michelle Vergetas, and the couple had one child, Ethel. Starr tried to join the
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in 1938 but was rejected because his father was an
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outbreak within the camp. The opportunity arose to smuggle himself into a group of prisoners who were being transferred to the
156:. The Germans had penetrated several SOE networks and captured agents in that area. Starr was joined in Acrobat by saboteur
39:(SOE) organization during World War II. He was the organiser (leader) of the Acrobat network (or circuit) which operated in
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mistakes. The
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concentration camp. Starr later returned to live in Paris, then moved to
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338:. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 15–20.
177:(or SD), the intelligence service of the
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19:(6 August 1908 – 1996), code names
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485:Glass, pp. 248–252, 267
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348:Foot, M.R.D. (1966),
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279:Buchenwald
189:in Paris.
59:Early life
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