Henri Rol-Tanguy
Henri Tanguy - his name was officially changed in 1970 to Rol-Tanguy after his war name Colonel Rol (-Tanguy) - (born June 12, 1908 in Morlaix ; † September 8, 2002 in Paris ) was one of the chiefs of the French Resistance in World War II .
Life
The son of a Breton sailor family, Henri Tanguy left school at the age of 14 and worked in the Renault factory in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris . In 1925 he joined the French Communist Party , to which he would belong until the end of his life. In 1936, Henri Tanguy was one of the leaders of the metalworkers' union in Paris. In the same year he organized from Paris the support for the Spanish Republic in the defensive fight against the coup of the right-wing military around General Franco . From 1937 he took part in the Spanish Civil War and was a member of the International Brigades .
After the defeat of the Spanish Republic, Henri Tanguy went back to France and served in the French army after the start of the Second World War in 1939. In 1940 he was taken prisoner by Germany. He fled, joined the resistance and took the code name Rol from his friend Théo Rol, who had fallen in Spain. In 1939 he married the communist Cécile Le Bihan , whom he had met in 1936 while working for the Popular Front and the Spanish Republic and who later also joined the resistance. The couple had four children. From the Paris catacombs, as head of the Franc-Tireurs et Partisans , he organized the armed resistance in the Paris region from February 1942, which led to the uprising in August 1944. On August 25, 1944 he and General Leclerc (in civilian clothes) received the declaration of surrender from the German general and Mayor of Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz , as part of the liberation of Paris .
In post-war Germany he served, among other things, in 1945 as the French military commander in Koblenz . After his release from the French army in 1962, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party until 1967 .
His son Jean Rol-Tanguy was a journalist and long-time correspondent for Humanité in the GDR. His daughter Claire Rol-Tanguy (born 1946) is the general secretary of the French association Friends of the Fighters in Republican Spain (ACER).
Honors
He was elected President de l ' Association nationale des anciens combattants de la Resistance (ANACR) and the Amicale des anciens volontaires français en Espagne républicaine .
In 1996 he received Spanish honorary citizenship
At his funeral in 2002 there was a state ceremony under Jacques Chirac in the Invalides .
In 2004 a street was named after him in Paris in the 14th arrondissement near Denfert-Rochereau.
Military decorations
- Grand'Croix de la Légion d'Honneur , 1994
- Ordre de la Liberation by decree of January 18, 1946
- Croix de guerre (1939–1945) with three palm trees
- Médaille de la Resistance
- Croix du Combattant Volontaire
- Croix du Combattant Volontaire de la Resistance
Badge of honor
Works
He has published in French:
- La liberation de Paris (1964)
- Le parti communiste français dans la Résistance (1967)
- La vérité sur la liberation de Paris (1971)
- La liberation de Paris. Les 100 documents (1994)
literature
- R. Bourderon: Rol-Tanguy. Tallandier, Paris, 2004 (biography)
Web links
- Henri Rol-Tanguy. In: Musée de l'Ordre de la Liberation. October 25, 2007, archived from the original on July 13, 2014 (French).
- Alan Riding: Henri Rol-Tanguy, French Resistance Figure, Dies at 94. In: NYTimes.com . September 11, 2002, archived from the original on May 27, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Collins / Lapierre: Is Paris Burning? Part III, Chapter 8 with the details of the handover.
- ↑ Les Amis des Combattants
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rol-Tanguy, Henri |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tanguy, Henri; Rol-Tanguy, Henri |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French resistance fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Morlaix |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 8, 2002 |
| Place of death | Paris |