On February 22, a ceremony commemorating fighter of the French Resistance Movement, anti-Nazi and French national hero Missak Manouchian and his group of 23 fighters was held for the first time in the French city of Toulouse, reported Mesrop Mashtots Armenian School of Toulouse to Hayern Aysor.

Toulouse was quite a multiethnic city and was populated by quite a lot of Jews. Missak Manouchian and his group were executed by the Nazis on February 22, 1944 in Fort Mon-Valerien.

The ceremony was organized by ARACRA (Organization of Armenian Freedom Fighters and Resistance Fighters) of the French Midi-Pyrénées region, and Prefect of the region Pascal Mayos, Mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luk Moudenc and Deputy Mayor Jean-Batist de Scora played a major role in organizing the ceremony.

Among the attendees were Chairman of the Resistance Committee of Former Freedom Fighters and representatives of several other organizations that were led by former freedom fighters and, as a sign of respect, they had come to the ceremony with their flag bearers. Among other attendees were representatives of the local Jewish community who had come to respect the memory of the heroes of the remarkable “Red Poster”.

The solemn opening was performed by Chairman of ARACRA Organization and the French-Armenian Organization of Midi-Pyrénées, Mr. Fernand Torosian, followed by a speech by Mr. Gerard Foure-Labreau, who is the chairman of the Resistance Committee of Former Freedom Fighters. The attendees respected the memory of the victims with a moment of silence, after which the coat-of-arms was laid in front of the Resistance Monument located in front of the residence of the former Gestapo, along the paths of Frederic Mistral, marking the end of the ceremony.