In WW2, Peter Rupp Saved 14 American Soldiers from Certain Death at the Hands of the Nazis
Twenty-four hours after the start of the Battle of the Bulge, a horrific chain of events began to unfold in the tiny Belgian town of Ligneuville. At the time, unknown to his family, Peter Rupp, a local hotelier, was an ardent member of the secret Belgian White Army. Hotel du Moulin had long been a “station” in the “underground railroad” network. Using the nom de guerre “Monsieur Kramer”, Peter had hidden allied airmen in a vacant room, until it was safe for to pass them on to the next recipient. In all, twenty two American, British and French airmen owed their lives to “Monsieur Kramer” who made sure his “guests” were always warm and well fed. Of the many narrow scrapes Peter experienced during the long four years of Nazi occupation, perhaps the closest came albeit unwittingly from his budget-minded wife Balbina when she called in the Gestapo to solve the mystery of why much of the hotels food stores were disappearing? Miraculously without ever revealing the truth, Rupp using every ounce of his persuasive power managed to get the investigation called off.
On December 17, 1944, anxiously from one of the hotel’s kitchen windows Rupp looked on as eight American stragglers were forced marched by a German NCO into the yard at the front of the building. Using an automatic pistol the SS sergeant then started, one by one, to execute the helpless prisoners. Rushing to the rear of the building, Rupp shouted to another German sergeant that American prisoners were out front being murdered but these German troops showed no interest in what Rupp was trying to say…no one cared or seemed to give a damn.
Walking to church the following morning, Peter and his family noticed a long line of American tanks and trucks roaring down the hill. Afterwards while making their way home, the dust clouds and petrol fumes began to dissipate as last armored vehicles rumbled passed. A few miles further to the north, Peter could now hear a distant rumble coming from the direction of Malmédy.
