From the German embassy in Paris, Ernst Achenbach (1909-1991) coordinated the murder of 70,000 French Jews from 1943 to 1945. Less than ten years later, as a senior FDP politician, he prevented Nazi criminals from being prosecuted. French Nazi hunters found evidence of his past and were able to block his appointment as Commissioner of the European Economic Community (EEC).
He was nevertheless awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 1971.