Eight members of the French communist urban guerrilla resistance unit ‘The Missak Manouchian Group,’ including their Armenianborn leader Missak Manouchian (1906 - 1944) (third from left in line, second from left in photo), stand before a wall as they await execution a few days after their capture by German occupation forces, Fort Mont Valerian, Paris, February 21, 1944. All were members of the Franc Tireurs Partisans-Main d’Oeuvre Immigre (Irregular Partisan Riflemen - Immigrant Workers).
They became the subject of a notorious Nazi propaganda poster, l’Affiche Rouge (Red Poster), which attempted to show the resistance as foreign terrorists.
Visible in the photo are (left to right) French-born Robert Witchitz, Manouchian, Romanian-born Joseph Boczov, Polish-born Wolf Wajsbrot (1925 - 1944), Polish-born Szlama Grzywacz (1918 - 1944), Polish-born Maurice Fingercwajg (1922 - 1944), Hungarianborn Thomas Elek (1925 - 1944).
