Henri Manhès

Monument of the city of Weimar from 1961 on the Ettersberg

Henri Manhès , called Frédéric (born June 9, 1889 in Etampes , † June 25, 1959 in Nice ) was a French journalist , colonel , resistance fighter, head of the French brigade of the International Military Organization (IMO) in Buchenwald concentration camp , member of the International Camp Committee and Honorary President of the FIR .

Live and act

After graduating from college, Manhès studied journalism . After the occupation of France by the Wehrmacht of the Nazi regime , the resistance group " Ceux de la Liberation " arose at his suggestion . In 1941 he became a representative of Jean Moulin , who organized the various groups of resistance fighters in the non-occupied territory of France in a coordinated manner. When he in 1943 from a trip to London returned to France, he was arrested and a military court sentenced the Wehrmacht to death. In 1944 he was transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp . Here he was appointed President of the camp committee for French interests by Marcel Paul . Soon he became the head of the French brigade in the International Military Organization (IMO) of the camp and after the escape of most of the SS guards on April 11, 1945 before the approaching Americans, he took control of the camp with other members of the camp resistance the 3rd US Army arrived a few hours later.

After liberation from National Socialism and his return to France, he founded the Association of Deportees, Internees, Resistance Fighters and Patriots , of which he became the first president. In 1952 he was elected honorary president of the FIR. The city of Weimar granted him honorary citizenship on September 15, 1958 and in May 1961 erected a memorial stone in his memory at the beginning of the blood road to Buchenwald concentration camp.

literature

• Heinz Koch, Udo Wohlfeld: The German beech forest committee. The period from 1945 to 1958 , issue 7 of the series "wanted" by the history workshop Weimar-Apolda, Weimar 2010, ISBN 3-935275-14-5 .
• Gitta Günther , Wolfram Huschke, Walter Steiner (eds.): Weimar. Lexicon on city history. Weimar 1998, ISBN 3-7400-0807-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Henri Manhès in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Henri Manhès in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)