A first tribute for Missak Manouchian. A vigil is organized at Mont Valérien, in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), Tuesday February 20, on the eve of the pantheonization of this great figure of the resistance. The coffin will borrow the path of his last moments, from the chapel to the clearing of the executed, then, from 10 p.m., he will rest for the night in the crypt of the Memorial of Combatant France, until now a mecca of the Gaullist Resistance. Follow our live stream.
A tribute open to the public. The ceremony in tribute to Missak Manouchian and the members of the Red Poster group will begin at 6:30 p.m., and will be chaired by Patricia Mirallès, the Secretary of State for Veterans and Memory.
The communist resistance fighter enters the Pantheon on Wednesday. Survivor of the Armenian genocide, stateless and communist, Missak Manouchian became a figure of the Resistance. His name, little by little, eclipsed that of the nine other resistance fighters mentioned on the famous “Red Poster” of 1944. But they will all be engraved in gold letters, at the entrance to vault number XIII where Missak’s remains will rest. Manouchian and his wife, Mélinée.
Recognition of the role of foreigners in the Resistance. The entry into the Pantheon of Missak Manouchian marks recognition of the role played by foreigners in France in the fight against Nazism. The descendants of these freedom fighters had to wait 80 years after their execution by Nazi Germany for France, which had banished them from official memory, to pay tribute to them.