The Stalking of the Red Poster

In mid-November 1943, the French Vichy police arrested 23 Resistance members of the "Manouchian Group", called after its commander, Missak Manouchian. 11 of them were Jews. On 21.2.1944, after 3 months of tortures, the 23 were tried and executed. In the spring of 1944, the Vichy and German authorities printed an estimated 15,000 copies of a propaganda poster called Affiche Rouge ("Red Poster") which claimed that the resistance was headed by foreigners, Jews, unemployed people and criminals who conspirated against French life and the sovereignty of France. The campaign, however, seemd to have had the opposite effect, advertising the success of people whom the general public saw as freedom fighters. Based on eye-tesimonies and archive materials, this documentary, broadcast by France 2 on 15.3.2007, tells the story of the Affiche Rouge and alleges that the fall of the Manouchian Group had been due exclusively to the French police's work.