In the National Pantheon of France, an imposing monument from the 18th century, in neoclassical style, located in the V arrondissement of Paris in the heart of the Latin Quarter, rest the remains of
the heroes of the Fatherland.
It houses the coffins of 75 men and 6 women who stood out especially throughout its history.
Among others, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Jean Jaurès, Jean Moulin, Louis Braille, Jean Monnet, the father of thermodynamics Sadi Carnot, Pierre and Marie Curie, André Malraux and Jacques-Germain Soufflot, its architect, are there. .
Also buried there are Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Jean Zay and Pierre Brossolette, members of the Resistance during the Second World War, Simone Veil, lawyer and politician who survived the Holocaust and the first woman to preside over the European Parliament and promoter of the process. of European integration, together with her husband, and Joséphine Baker, the French dancer, singer and actress of African American origin, considered the first vedette and international star, who was a French spy against Nazi Germany and activist for the rights of black people, the fourth personality of African origin after Félix Éboué, Aimé Césaire and Alexandre Dumas.
On February 21,
Missak and Mélinée Manouchian
, survivors of the Armenian genocide, who were also members of the French resistance against the German occupation, entered the Pantheon.
This occurs 80 years after Missak, a worker and poet, member of a partisan organization, was executed by the Nazis.
Melinée, his great love, will survive and bear witness to their lives.
She died in 1989. The other 21 partisans who were shot alongside him on Mount Valerien were also present in this recognition.
Missak and Melinée are
the first foreigners to be buried in the Pantheon
alongside the other French heroes.
Nazi propaganda had wallpapered the streets of Paris with posters with photographs of ten members of the Manouchian group, on a red background, denouncing "the army of crime against France."
All of them will go down in legend under the name "
L'Affiche rouge
", which inspired a poem in Louis Aragón, set to music by Léo Ferré, and several films.
According to the grounds of the decision, Missak and Melinée embody the universal values of freedom, equality and fraternity, in the name of which they defended the Republic.
"The blood shed by France is the same color for everyone
," remarked President Emmanuel Macron.
A recognition that
patriotism is not an exclusive attribute of a flag
.
Foreigners and immigrants forced to uproot themselves due to persecutions, massacres, wars or economic and social crises were, are, and can also be citizens of the world and, at the same time,
exemplary patriots in the defense of human dignity
in the place they live.
Missak and Mélinée Manouchian
https://www.diarioarmenia.org.ar/la-historia-de-missak-y-melinee-manouchian-sobrevivientes-del-genocidio-armenio-y-activistas-de-la-resistencia-contra-la-trabajo- nazi-who-entered-the-pantheon-of-france/#google_vignette