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(Redirected from Affiche rouge)
The '''Affiche rouge''' ("Red Poster") is a famous propaganda tool that the French and German authorities used with great success in the spring of 1944 in occupied Paris. It depicted the 23 executed members of the 'Manouchian Group', Resistants captured in November 1943, as "terrorists," and stigmatized their mostly Jewish and foreign origins.
In mid-November 1943, the French police arrested, among others, twenty-three members of the Communist Francs-Tireurs et Partisans de la Main d'Oeuvre Immigrée (FTP-MOI) Resistant movement, known as the Manouchian Group [1]. Thus named in honor of its commander Missak Manouchian, the group formed a part of a network of about a 100 fighters who were responsible for practically all acts of armed resistance to speak of in the Paris region between March and November 1943.[2]
It was made up of eight Poles, five Italians, three Hungarians, two Armenians, a Spaniard, a Roumanian (Olga Bancic) and three French. Eleven of them were Jews.[1]
After having been tortured for three months, the 23 were tried by a German military court. In an effort to discredit the Resistance, the authorities invited French celebrities from the world of the cinema and other arts to attend the trial and encouraged the media to give it the widest coverage possible. The Manouchian Group's members were executed before a firing squad in the fort of Mont-Valérien on February 21, 1944. The woman, Olga Bancic, who had served the group as a messenger, was taken to Stuttgart, Germany, where, on May 10, 1944, she was beheaded with an axe.
In the spring of 1944, the authorities launched the ''Affiche rouge'' campaign. An estimated 15,000 copies of the poster were printed 1944: l'Affiche Rouge, on the website of the ''Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration'' (with video excerpts) . Along with these posters, flyers were handed out, claiming that the Resistants were headed by foreigners, Jews, unemployed people and criminals, and presenting the Resistance as a "foreigners' conspiracy against Frenchmen's life and the sovereignty of France" :
Legend has it that on some of them the words MORTS POUR LA FRANCE (They died for France) were scribbled and that flowers were put underneath them. In 1975, Philippe Ganier Raymond claimed that there were no historical records for this [3]. However, modern historical researches did give the proof of similar inscriptions . Although the poster denounced the Resistants as "terrorists," public opinion rather received it as highlighting the acts of freedom fighters, thus having in fact the opposite intended effect Film documentary on the website of the ''Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration'' .
In 1955, Louis Aragon wrote a poem ''Strophes pour se souvenir'' which had as its theme the ''Affiche rouge'' affair. The poem was published in 1956 in ''Le roman inachevé'' and was put to music and sung by Léo Ferré in 1959 under the title ''L'Affiche rouge''. Rouben Melik and Paul Eluard also wrote poems in honour of the Manouchian Group [4][5].
A law proposed by Robert Badinter and voted on 22 October, 1997, decided the building of a monument commemorating the 1,006 executed hostages and Resistants at the Mont-Valérien (including the 23 members of the Manouchian Group) between 1940 and 1944. It was made by the sculptor Pascal Convert and inaugurated on 20 September, 2003 by the Prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
A film documentary by Stéphane Courtois and Mosco Boucault, ''Des terroristes à la retraite'', diffused by Antenne 2 in 1983, included interviews of surviving FTP-MOI members and family of the victims. Mosco accused the French Communist Party (PCF) of having deliberately sacrificed the fighters in the power struggle with the Gaullists for control over the National Council of Resistance (CNR), mainly because of their foreign origins which did not concord with patriotic readings of the Resistance. The film was diffused again in 2001, but with 12 minutes missing because of recent historical researches [6].
This allegation has been and continue to be denied by the PCF. Another documentary realized by Denis Peschanski and Jorge Amat, and diffused by France 2 on 15 March, 2007, contradicted Stéphane Courtois and Boucault's theory [7][8]. Quoting the historian Denis Peschanski who had had access to new documents from the Russian, French and German archives, the new documentary alleged that the fall of the Manouchian Group had been due exclusively to the French police's work. The two, newly-created, branches of the ''Renseignements généraux'' (RG) intelligence agency — the ''Brigades spéciales'' 1 and 2 — had trailed the Resistants during months. Marcel Rayman killed the SS General Julius von Ritter in a bombing on 28 September, 1943, who was one of the main organisator of the ''Service du travail obligatoire'' (STO). At that time, he was already being followed since two months, and the Manouchian Group would be dismantled only afterwards, through various arrests (including Davidovitch's arrest and subsequent informations given after being tortured).
The poster reads:
From left to right, and top to bottom, individual portraits are labeled:
★ GRZYWACZ: Juif polonais, 2 attentats (Polish Jew, 2 terrorist attacks)
★ ELEK: Juif hongrois, 5 déraillements (Hungarian Jew, 5 derailments)
★ WASJBROT: Juif polonais, 1 attentat, 1 déraillement (Polish Jew, 1 terrorist attack, 1 derailment)
★ WITCHITZ: Juif polonais, 15 attentats (Polish Jew, 15 terrorist attacks)
★ FINGERCWAJG: Juif polonais, 3 attentats, 5 déraillements (Polish Jew, 3 terrorist attacks, 5 derailments)
★ BOCZOV: Juif hongrois, chef dérailleur, 20 attentats (Hungarian Jew, chief of derailment operations, 20 terrorist attacks)
★ FONTANOT: Communiste italien, 12 attentats (Italian Communist, 12 terrorist attacks)
★ ALFONSO: Espagnol rouge, 2 attentats (Red Spaniard, 2 terrorist attacks)
★ RAYMAN: Juif polonais, 13 attentats (Polish Jew, 13 terrorist attacks)
★ MANOUCHIAN: Arménien, chef de bande, 56 attentats, 150 morts, 600 blessés (Armenian, chief of gang, 56 terrorist attacks, 150 dead, 600 wounded)
At the bottom are featured photographs of:
★ the torso of a dead body featuring several bullet impacts
★ a dead body lying on the ground
★ a derailed locomotive
★ a derailed train
★ a table with small firearms
★ a derailed train
1. Stéphane Courtois, Denis Peschanski and Adam Rayski: ''Le Sang de l'étranger. Les Immigrés de la MOI dans la Résistance'', Fayard, Paris 1989
2. Arsène Tchakarian: ''Les franc-tireurs de l'affiche rouge'', Messidor/Éditions sociales, 1986
3. Philippe Ganier Raymond, ''L'Affiche rouge: La vérité sur les partisans sacrifiés'', Fayard 1975
4. Résistance. l’Affiche rouge Fusillés, poem by Rouben Melik, re-published by ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
5. Paul Eluard, Légion (poem) published in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
6. Avec ou sans guillemets, ''L'Humanité'', 18 February 2004
7. Denis Peschanski – Jorge Amat, ''La traque de l’Affiche rouge'', 72 minutes, compagnie des Phares et Balises en collaboration avec la Fondation Gabriel Péri et ''L’Humanité'', 2006. Resume of the film
8. Les héros de l’Affiche rouge, ''L'Humanité'', 13 February 2007
★ Benoît Raisky, ''L’Affiche rouge 21 février 1944, Ils n’étaient que des enfants.'', Éditions du Félin, 2004 (review by ''L'Humanité'')
★ Franck Cassenti, ''L'Affiche Rouge'' (1976)
★ Stéphane Courtois and Mosco Boucault, ''Des terroristes à la retraite'' (1983)
★ Pascal Convert, ''Mont-Valérien, aux noms des fusillés''
★ Denis Peschanski – Jorge Amat, ''La traque de l’Affiche rouge'' (2007)
★ Vichy France
★ 21 février 1944: L'Affiche rouge (herodote.net)
★ Missak Manouchian (netarmenie.com)
★ Missak Manouchian - Ein armenischer Partisan
★ Song performed by Léo Ferré (Daily Motion)
★ " Vingt et trois étrangers et nos frères pourtant " in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Interview of Henri Karayan, former member of the Manouchian Group in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Julien Lauprêtre : " Manouchian était dans ma cellule… et je ne le savais pas " in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Rino Della Negra, ailier droit résistant, article on one of the member of the Manuchian Group, in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Les nouvelles censures Par Pascal Convert Sculpteur, plasticien, concepteur du monument à la mémoire des résistants et otages fusillés au Mont Valérien, auteur du documentaire Mont-Valérien, aux noms des fusillés. in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Présentation en avant-première du nouveau hors-série de l’Humanité
The ''Affiche rouge''.
The '''Affiche rouge''' ("Red Poster") is a famous propaganda tool that the French and German authorities used with great success in the spring of 1944 in occupied Paris. It depicted the 23 executed members of the 'Manouchian Group', Resistants captured in November 1943, as "terrorists," and stigmatized their mostly Jewish and foreign origins.
| Contents |
| Background |
| Legacy |
| Controversy |
| Content |
| References |
| Bibliography |
| Films |
| See also |
| External links |
Background
In mid-November 1943, the French police arrested, among others, twenty-three members of the Communist Francs-Tireurs et Partisans de la Main d'Oeuvre Immigrée (FTP-MOI) Resistant movement, known as the Manouchian Group [1]. Thus named in honor of its commander Missak Manouchian, the group formed a part of a network of about a 100 fighters who were responsible for practically all acts of armed resistance to speak of in the Paris region between March and November 1943.[2]
It was made up of eight Poles, five Italians, three Hungarians, two Armenians, a Spaniard, a Roumanian (Olga Bancic) and three French. Eleven of them were Jews.[1]
After having been tortured for three months, the 23 were tried by a German military court. In an effort to discredit the Resistance, the authorities invited French celebrities from the world of the cinema and other arts to attend the trial and encouraged the media to give it the widest coverage possible. The Manouchian Group's members were executed before a firing squad in the fort of Mont-Valérien on February 21, 1944. The woman, Olga Bancic, who had served the group as a messenger, was taken to Stuttgart, Germany, where, on May 10, 1944, she was beheaded with an axe.
In the spring of 1944, the authorities launched the ''Affiche rouge'' campaign. An estimated 15,000 copies of the poster were printed 1944: l'Affiche Rouge, on the website of the ''Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration'' (with video excerpts) . Along with these posters, flyers were handed out, claiming that the Resistants were headed by foreigners, Jews, unemployed people and criminals, and presenting the Resistance as a "foreigners' conspiracy against Frenchmen's life and the sovereignty of France" :
“''Si des Français pillent, volent, sabotent et tuent...
Ce sont toujours des étrangers qui les commandent.
Ce sont toujours des chômeurs et des criminels professionnels qui exécutent.
Ce sont toujours des juifs qui les inspirent.
C’est l’armée du crime contre la France.
Le banditisme n’est pas l’expression du Patriotisme blessé, c’est le complot étranger contre la vie des Français et contre la souveraineté de la France.”''
Legend has it that on some of them the words MORTS POUR LA FRANCE (They died for France) were scribbled and that flowers were put underneath them. In 1975, Philippe Ganier Raymond claimed that there were no historical records for this [3]. However, modern historical researches did give the proof of similar inscriptions . Although the poster denounced the Resistants as "terrorists," public opinion rather received it as highlighting the acts of freedom fighters, thus having in fact the opposite intended effect Film documentary on the website of the ''Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration'' .
Legacy
In 1955, Louis Aragon wrote a poem ''Strophes pour se souvenir'' which had as its theme the ''Affiche rouge'' affair. The poem was published in 1956 in ''Le roman inachevé'' and was put to music and sung by Léo Ferré in 1959 under the title ''L'Affiche rouge''. Rouben Melik and Paul Eluard also wrote poems in honour of the Manouchian Group [4][5].
A law proposed by Robert Badinter and voted on 22 October, 1997, decided the building of a monument commemorating the 1,006 executed hostages and Resistants at the Mont-Valérien (including the 23 members of the Manouchian Group) between 1940 and 1944. It was made by the sculptor Pascal Convert and inaugurated on 20 September, 2003 by the Prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
Controversy
A film documentary by Stéphane Courtois and Mosco Boucault, ''Des terroristes à la retraite'', diffused by Antenne 2 in 1983, included interviews of surviving FTP-MOI members and family of the victims. Mosco accused the French Communist Party (PCF) of having deliberately sacrificed the fighters in the power struggle with the Gaullists for control over the National Council of Resistance (CNR), mainly because of their foreign origins which did not concord with patriotic readings of the Resistance. The film was diffused again in 2001, but with 12 minutes missing because of recent historical researches [6].
This allegation has been and continue to be denied by the PCF. Another documentary realized by Denis Peschanski and Jorge Amat, and diffused by France 2 on 15 March, 2007, contradicted Stéphane Courtois and Boucault's theory [7][8]. Quoting the historian Denis Peschanski who had had access to new documents from the Russian, French and German archives, the new documentary alleged that the fall of the Manouchian Group had been due exclusively to the French police's work. The two, newly-created, branches of the ''Renseignements généraux'' (RG) intelligence agency — the ''Brigades spéciales'' 1 and 2 — had trailed the Resistants during months. Marcel Rayman killed the SS General Julius von Ritter in a bombing on 28 September, 1943, who was one of the main organisator of the ''Service du travail obligatoire'' (STO). At that time, he was already being followed since two months, and the Manouchian Group would be dismantled only afterwards, through various arrests (including Davidovitch's arrest and subsequent informations given after being tortured).
Content
The poster reads:
''Des libérateurs? La libération par l'armée du crime!''
"Liberators? Liberation by the army of crime!"
From left to right, and top to bottom, individual portraits are labeled:
★ GRZYWACZ: Juif polonais, 2 attentats (Polish Jew, 2 terrorist attacks)
★ ELEK: Juif hongrois, 5 déraillements (Hungarian Jew, 5 derailments)
★ WASJBROT: Juif polonais, 1 attentat, 1 déraillement (Polish Jew, 1 terrorist attack, 1 derailment)
★ WITCHITZ: Juif polonais, 15 attentats (Polish Jew, 15 terrorist attacks)
★ FINGERCWAJG: Juif polonais, 3 attentats, 5 déraillements (Polish Jew, 3 terrorist attacks, 5 derailments)
★ BOCZOV: Juif hongrois, chef dérailleur, 20 attentats (Hungarian Jew, chief of derailment operations, 20 terrorist attacks)
★ FONTANOT: Communiste italien, 12 attentats (Italian Communist, 12 terrorist attacks)
★ ALFONSO: Espagnol rouge, 2 attentats (Red Spaniard, 2 terrorist attacks)
★ RAYMAN: Juif polonais, 13 attentats (Polish Jew, 13 terrorist attacks)
★ MANOUCHIAN: Arménien, chef de bande, 56 attentats, 150 morts, 600 blessés (Armenian, chief of gang, 56 terrorist attacks, 150 dead, 600 wounded)
At the bottom are featured photographs of:
★ the torso of a dead body featuring several bullet impacts
★ a dead body lying on the ground
★ a derailed locomotive
★ a derailed train
★ a table with small firearms
★ a derailed train
References
1. Stéphane Courtois, Denis Peschanski and Adam Rayski: ''Le Sang de l'étranger. Les Immigrés de la MOI dans la Résistance'', Fayard, Paris 1989
2. Arsène Tchakarian: ''Les franc-tireurs de l'affiche rouge'', Messidor/Éditions sociales, 1986
3. Philippe Ganier Raymond, ''L'Affiche rouge: La vérité sur les partisans sacrifiés'', Fayard 1975
4. Résistance. l’Affiche rouge Fusillés, poem by Rouben Melik, re-published by ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
5. Paul Eluard, Légion (poem) published in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
6. Avec ou sans guillemets, ''L'Humanité'', 18 February 2004
7. Denis Peschanski – Jorge Amat, ''La traque de l’Affiche rouge'', 72 minutes, compagnie des Phares et Balises en collaboration avec la Fondation Gabriel Péri et ''L’Humanité'', 2006. Resume of the film
8. Les héros de l’Affiche rouge, ''L'Humanité'', 13 February 2007
Bibliography
★ Benoît Raisky, ''L’Affiche rouge 21 février 1944, Ils n’étaient que des enfants.'', Éditions du Félin, 2004 (review by ''L'Humanité'')
Films
★ Franck Cassenti, ''L'Affiche Rouge'' (1976)
★ Stéphane Courtois and Mosco Boucault, ''Des terroristes à la retraite'' (1983)
★ Pascal Convert, ''Mont-Valérien, aux noms des fusillés''
★ Denis Peschanski – Jorge Amat, ''La traque de l’Affiche rouge'' (2007)
See also
★ Vichy France
External links
★ 21 février 1944: L'Affiche rouge (herodote.net)
★ Missak Manouchian (netarmenie.com)
★ Missak Manouchian - Ein armenischer Partisan
★ Song performed by Léo Ferré (Daily Motion)
★ " Vingt et trois étrangers et nos frères pourtant " in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Interview of Henri Karayan, former member of the Manouchian Group in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Julien Lauprêtre : " Manouchian était dans ma cellule… et je ne le savais pas " in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Rino Della Negra, ailier droit résistant, article on one of the member of the Manuchian Group, in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Les nouvelles censures Par Pascal Convert Sculpteur, plasticien, concepteur du monument à la mémoire des résistants et otages fusillés au Mont Valérien, auteur du documentaire Mont-Valérien, aux noms des fusillés. in ''L'Humanité'', 21 February 2004
★ Présentation en avant-première du nouveau hors-série de l’Humanité
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