VE Day: Patriotism & Communists - FRANCE

THE 75th anniversary of VE Day on May 8 offers an opportunity to reflect on the ending of the Second World War in Europe and the role of communists in fighting fascism and defending nations.

The involvement of the French Communist Party in the resistance

This blog offers a brief introduction to some of the contributions made by communists in France. Other VE Day blogs look at the work of communists in countries including Britain and Italy.

In the dark days of 1944, on the afternoon of 21 February, 23 members of the French communist resistance movement, the Francs Tiruers et Partisans – Main – d’oeuvre immigree (FTP-MOI), were executed at Fort Mont Valerien.

Inside what was a makeshift prison located in a Parisian suburb, the Wehrmacht murdered 1,014 men involved with the French resistance. All were men because a French law prevented the execution of women.

Those executed on that fateful day were known as the Manoucian group, which was led by Missak Manouchian, a member of the PCF, the French Communist Party.

Of the 23 men executed, 20 were foreign nationals and 11 were Jews. They were all communists fighting for the same cause – the liberation of France and the overthrow of the Nazi regime.

The collaborationist press at the time painted them as terrorists. However, the FTP volunteers, created by the leaders of the French Communist Party, were crucial in the victory over the Nazi regime in France.

The FTP resistance members were responsible for arson at factories which were producing munitions for the Nazis, the derailing of trains used to transport military equipment and many other acts to disrupt the Nazi war machine.

There are few examples of anti-Nazi resistance in the history of the Second World War that included so many international fighters prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. This was made possible through the work of the Communist Party in France.

No story of the French resistance would be complete with mentioning Simone Segouin. She was a member of the FTP who, at the age of 18 in 1944, was involved in the capture of 25 German prisoners of war in Chartres and who ultimately played a part in the liberation of Paris.

Brave women such as her led to a change in the way that their gender was treated, for example with women voting for the first time in local elections in France in 1945.

Communist parties around the world continue to lead this battle today.

PHOTOS:
Colour photos are local memorials to resistance fighters in Brittany who were shot by Nazi troops in 1944, taken by the author.