Bordeaux - A French judge suggested yesterday that accused collaborator, Mr Maurice Papon, had been overly zealous in carrying out wartime German orders to arrest Jews, particularly as his superior was urging him to buy time.
Papon, on trial charged with deporting 1,560 Jews from the Bordeaux area in 1942-1944, said he was outraged when he got the order and reacted only by spelling out the options available without ordering anything.
But in a tense dialogue, presiding Judge Jean-Louis Castagnede confronted Papon with documents showing he started organising the requested round-up within 24 hours of receiving the order from German occupation officials.
