The opening of the Armenia-Turkey border will create favorable conditions for Armenian Genocide recognition, “ Robert Getikyan film director, author of “The Criminal Army” said. Robert Getikian advised to memorize a poem of Louis Aragon about national hero of France Misak Manushian.
Misak Manushian – French anti-fascist of Armenian origin once wrote “I don’t hate the German people. For me it is a very important aspect, because my mother is a German”.
Born in the city of Adiyaman (Turkey), September 1, 1906 Misak Manushian witnessed the Armenian Genocide. Then Misak was an orphan in Syria. In 1925 he emigrated to France and lived in Marseilles and Paris, worked at the Citroen factory. With Armenian compatriots he published a magazine advocating left ideas and Armenian culture among emigrants. Together with his wife Meline Manushian he participated in French Resistance against the invaders, he was an activist of the Immigrant Labor’s Armenian section. In August 1943 a group under Manushian command made almost thirty successful attacks against the German occupiers. The notorious Nazi “Red Poster”, published in 15,000 copies, portrayed Manushian: “Manushian, an Armenian, a leader of the gang, 56 attacks, 150 killed, 600 wounded”.
He was arrested by the German command, tortured and executed after 3 months, along with 21 members of his group (“Group of Manushian”). He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. Streets, squares in Paris, Valence, Marseilles, Gardanne, Yerevan and other places were named after Manushian.
