The Armenian communist resistance fighter, Missak Manouchian, who was shot by the Nazis in 1944, is to be buried in the Pantheon, the famous mausoleum built by the French Republic in recognition of its “Great Men”. Missak Manouchian, born in 1906, was an orphan and a survivor of the Armenian genocide of 1915. He arrived in France at the age of 19. A factory worker, communist activist, journalist and poet, he became a member of the Resistance when the Nazis occupied France. He led a group of foreign resistance fighters who formed part of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, the communist resistance units. The “Manouchian group” carried out numerous attacks against fascist interests and assassinated high-ranking Nazi officers. The group of around twenty resistance fighters was eventually arrested on 16 November 1943. Tried and convicted, Missak Manouchian and his 22 companions were shot by the fascists at Mont-Valérien on 21 February 1944. His wife Mélinée, an Armenian resistance fighter who outlived her husband by 45 years, will also be enshrined in the Pantheon.
