FTP-MOI

The Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée (FTP-MOI) were a sub-group of the "Francs-tireurs et partisans" (FTP) organization, a component of the French Resistance. A wing composed mostly of foreigners, the MOI maintained an armed force to oppose the German occupation of France during World War II. The Main-d'œuvre immigrée was the "Immigrant Movement" of the FTP.
The last surviving member of the FTP-MOI's Manouchian Group, resistance fighter Arsène Tchakarian, died in August 2018.
History.
The FTP-MOI groups were organized in the Paris region in 1941, at the same time as the "Francs-tireurs et partisans". Their ranks were filled with foreign communists living in France who were not part of the French Communist Party. Although integrated with the "FTP", these groups depended directly on Jacques Duclos, who passed on orders from the Communist International (Comintern). Members also included other immigrants, especially many young Hungarian writers, artists and intellectuals. Among them were the painter Sándor Józsa; sculptor István Hajdú (Étienne Hajdu); journalists László Kőrösi and Imre Gyomra; photographers Andras (André) Steiner, Lucien Hervé, and Ervin Marton; and printer Ladislas Mandel.
The FTP-MOI were among the most active and determined of the resistance groups; particularly because they were foreigners and mostly Jews, they were under the direct watch of the Vichy regime and the Germans. Without maintaining strict secrecy, they risked internment, deportation and death. Because they depended directly on the Comintern, with Duclos as their intermediary, they were often on the front line when the order to fight came from Moscow. The various French groups were more attentive to the French national political climate.
The Parisian groups were initially led by Boris Holban, then the poet turned activist Missak Manouchian. After Manouchian was arrested in 1943 and executed in February 1944, Holban took over again.
The FTP-MOI are particularly well known because of the highly publicized trial of numerous members of the Manouchian Group. Tracked, arrested and interrogated by the French police, the show trial of the 23 members was held in front of a German military tribunal at the Hôtel Continental. It began on 17 February 1944, lasted between two and four days, and after a 30-minute deliberation, the court reached the following verdict: All of the accused were condemned to death, with no possibility of appeal.
All but two were shot immediately on 21 February at Mont-Valérien. The execution of Olga Bancic was suspended for further enquiry and because French law prohibited executing women by firing squad. In a new sentence passed on her birthday of 10 May 1944 at Stuttgart, she was condemned to death. She was beheaded shortly after the sentencing. One accused, Migratulski, was transferred to French jurisdiction.
Following the trial and executions, the Germans created a poster with a red background, featuring ten men of the Manouchian group with their names, photos and alleged crimes; it became known as "l'Affiche Rouge". The Germans distributed thousands of copies of the poster around the city to encourage Parisians to think of the partisans as criminal foreigners and "not French", and discourage resistance; instead, the Affiches Rouges inspired citizens to more actions. Some marked the posters with phrases such as "Morts pour la France!" (They died for France.)
Structure of the FTP-MOI.
Paris region, "Groupe Manouchian".
Led by Joseph Epstein and Missak Manouchian, the armed group had the following members:
Lyon region, "Compagnie Carmagnole-Liberté".
The armed group "Carmagnole" in Lyon and the armed group "Liberté" in Grenoble had the following members:
Herbert Herz was a member of both groups.
Toulouse region, "35th Brigade".
The 35th Brigade took its name from the thirty-five divisions of gunners of the International Brigades, to which Marcel (Mendel) Langer, head of the regional FTP-MOI, had claimed to belong. In February 1943, Langer was arrested carrying explosives. He was tried by the "section spéciale" of the Toulouse appeals court. The "avocat général", Lespinasse, demanded his execution and, on 21 March 1943, Langer was sentenced to death. He was executed on 23 July 1943.
The 35th Brigade then called themselves the Brigade Marcel Langer in his honor. Eighteen members were arrested by the Vichy police and handed over to the Germans. Two died of unknown causes on the train transporting them to be deported. Four were shot.
Bibliography.
(*) Former member of the 35 Brigade FTP-MOI "Marcel Langer"