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Agence France Presse
January 14, 2012 Saturday 5:07 AM GMT
At 95, French Resistance veteran loyal to radical roots
VITRY-SUR-SEINE, France, Jan 14 2012
At 95, age has not diminished the radical convictions that led Arsene
Tchakarian to join France's legendary Resistance against the Nazis.
Tchakarian, a Turkish-born Armenian, is the last survivor of the
Manouchian Group, mainly foreign Resistance fighters who were
initially shunned for their communist orientation but later decorated
as war heroes and feted in poetry, song and film.
He has worked to keep their legacy alive, belonging to a proud
tradition of radicals -- such as fellow Resistance nonagenarian
Stephane Hessel, whose 2010 pamphlet "Indignez Vous!" (Time for
Outrage!) turned into a surprise best-seller, urging a popular
movement against finance capitalism.
The title inspired Spain's "Indignados" (The Indignant), among masses
worldwide who have taken to the streets to protest government
austerity programmes seen as punishing ordinary people for the
excesses of big business.
Tchakarian told AFP: "With the crisis, we are destroying countries.
... It is here, now, the real dictatorship."
Tchakarian, a struggling apprentice tailor when he came to Paris in
1930, has been showered with decorations for his wartime activities
including the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest award.
Though he concedes he lives an easier life these days, Tchakarian says
he remains a radical "revolted by the capitalist system".
"I'll always belong to the working class," he said.
Tchakarian was part of a network run by fellow Turkish-born Armenian
Missak Manouchian. While many comrades, including Manouchian, were
hunted down and executed, Tchakarian and a handful of others survived
to tell their story.
With the death in November of fellow veteran 90-year-old Henry
Karayan, he sees his mission as all the more important. "In a way, I'm
the last of the Mohicans," he joked.
Like Manouchian, it was Tchakarian's communist convictions that led
him to take up the fight against the Nazis.
Long before Nazi troops swept across Europe, Tchakarian was putting
his beliefs to the test on the streets of Paris.
-- Code name:'Charles' --
In February 1934, he was among a group of communists who fought French
fascists outside parliament during riots that some left-wing
commentators have described as a coup attempt by the far right.
He later became active in the left-wing Popular Front alliance,
struggling for better working conditions.
And when the war broke out in 1939 he was among those sent east on a
doomed mission to confront the invading Nazi forces.
Returning to Paris was a shock, he said. "There were Germans
everywhere, the Nazi flag on the Eiffel Tower."
He already knew Manouchian, a journalist and poet. It was Manouchian
who supplied him with his first anti-Nazi pamphlets in 1942.
But there was tension between the Resistance network run by General
Charles De Gaulle from London and Manouchian's alliance of communists
and radicals: their critics feared the influence of Moscow.
"They hesitated when it came to supplying weapons," he said.
"They were scared of the USSR and for them, we were Bolsheviks," he
recalled with a smile.
Once the different strands of the Resistance began working together,
the Manouchian Group emerged, bringing together activists from Italy,
Armenia, Polish Jews and other immigrants.
Tchakarian fought under the codename "Charles" as the group carried
out attacks including the September 1943 ambush of SS General Julius
Ritter, whom they gunned down in a Paris street.
But just months later, in February 1944, the group was decimated when
French police, collaborating with the German security service,
arrested 23 of its members, including Manouchian.
After a one-day show trial they were all sentenced to death.
Tchakarian slipped through the net thanks to a Paris police officer
who hid him. He made his way south to Bordeaux and continued his
Resistance activities until the end of the war.
Today, his home outside Paris is packed with archives on the
Manouchian Group's exploits, and he still visits schools to recount
their wartime role.
"Not everyone likes what I have to say, but I don't care," he said.
jt/jj/ns-gd
January 14, 2012 Saturday 5:07 AM GMT
At 95, French Resistance veteran loyal to radical roots
VITRY-SUR-SEINE, France, Jan 14 2012
At 95, age has not diminished the radical convictions that led Arsene
Tchakarian to join France's legendary Resistance against the Nazis.
Tchakarian, a Turkish-born Armenian, is the last survivor of the
Manouchian Group, mainly foreign Resistance fighters who were
initially shunned for their communist orientation but later decorated
as war heroes and feted in poetry, song and film.
He has worked to keep their legacy alive, belonging to a proud
tradition of radicals -- such as fellow Resistance nonagenarian
Stephane Hessel, whose 2010 pamphlet "Indignez Vous!" (Time for
Outrage!) turned into a surprise best-seller, urging a popular
movement against finance capitalism.
The title inspired Spain's "Indignados" (The Indignant), among masses
worldwide who have taken to the streets to protest government
austerity programmes seen as punishing ordinary people for the
excesses of big business.
Tchakarian told AFP: "With the crisis, we are destroying countries.
... It is here, now, the real dictatorship."
Tchakarian, a struggling apprentice tailor when he came to Paris in
1930, has been showered with decorations for his wartime activities
including the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest award.
Though he concedes he lives an easier life these days, Tchakarian says
he remains a radical "revolted by the capitalist system".
"I'll always belong to the working class," he said.
Tchakarian was part of a network run by fellow Turkish-born Armenian
Missak Manouchian. While many comrades, including Manouchian, were
hunted down and executed, Tchakarian and a handful of others survived
to tell their story.
With the death in November of fellow veteran 90-year-old Henry
Karayan, he sees his mission as all the more important. "In a way, I'm
the last of the Mohicans," he joked.
Like Manouchian, it was Tchakarian's communist convictions that led
him to take up the fight against the Nazis.
Long before Nazi troops swept across Europe, Tchakarian was putting
his beliefs to the test on the streets of Paris.
-- Code name:'Charles' --
In February 1934, he was among a group of communists who fought French
fascists outside parliament during riots that some left-wing
commentators have described as a coup attempt by the far right.
He later became active in the left-wing Popular Front alliance,
struggling for better working conditions.
And when the war broke out in 1939 he was among those sent east on a
doomed mission to confront the invading Nazi forces.
Returning to Paris was a shock, he said. "There were Germans
everywhere, the Nazi flag on the Eiffel Tower."
He already knew Manouchian, a journalist and poet. It was Manouchian
who supplied him with his first anti-Nazi pamphlets in 1942.
But there was tension between the Resistance network run by General
Charles De Gaulle from London and Manouchian's alliance of communists
and radicals: their critics feared the influence of Moscow.
"They hesitated when it came to supplying weapons," he said.
"They were scared of the USSR and for them, we were Bolsheviks," he
recalled with a smile.
Once the different strands of the Resistance began working together,
the Manouchian Group emerged, bringing together activists from Italy,
Armenia, Polish Jews and other immigrants.
Tchakarian fought under the codename "Charles" as the group carried
out attacks including the September 1943 ambush of SS General Julius
Ritter, whom they gunned down in a Paris street.
But just months later, in February 1944, the group was decimated when
French police, collaborating with the German security service,
arrested 23 of its members, including Manouchian.
After a one-day show trial they were all sentenced to death.
Tchakarian slipped through the net thanks to a Paris police officer
who hid him. He made his way south to Bordeaux and continued his
Resistance activities until the end of the war.
Today, his home outside Paris is packed with archives on the
Manouchian Group's exploits, and he still visits schools to recount
their wartime role.
"Not everyone likes what I have to say, but I don't care," he said.
jt/jj/ns-gd