Studying the lynching of Allied airmen in Germany raises questions of fact and interpretation alike. For, in attempting to establish the facts, one must rely on an indirect source: the war crimes trials brought by the Allies after the war. When conducted by an occupying power, such a posteriori investigations necessarily meet with more or less obvious resistance on the part of the newly occupied perpetrators. Interpreting these events, moreover, is made more difficult by the chronological conjunction of two main factors: from below, a violent popular reaction to the intensification of bombing and, from above, a policy of inciting murder against downed airmen. It is thus necessary to separate spontaneous anger from voluntary compliance with Nazi incitement and reveal their respective contributions to inducing men and women to take action. Provided that it was not the interaction of these two factors that provoked aggression.