Ln March 23 2024, the world of publishing, gathered at the Odéon theater as part of the trophy award ceremony organized on the initiative Weekly Booksgave him a standing ovation. Robert Birenbaum is enjoying the moment. Does this moment remind him of the liberation of Paris?
On August 25, 1944, upon arriving in his childhood neighborhood, near Stalingrad, machine gun in hand, he was surprised to see his neighbors cheering for him. “The same people who insulted me when I wore the yellow star then gave me a standing ovation,” he said with a smile.
Missak Manouchian’s resistance movement companion, Marcel Rajman battalion member Robert Birenbaum died on November 22 at the age of 99. “Robert Birenbaum #akapapa died this morning, peacefully, surrounded by his family, at the age of 99. He would finally join his beloved Tauba #akapapa. He met Tauba on the day of the Liberation of Paris, August 25, 1944. Only Tauba’s death in 2009 separated them. » This is how Guy Birenbaum announced, this Saturday, the death of his father in a moving tweet.
Robert Birenbaum #akapapa passed away this morning, peacefully, surrounded by his family, at the age of 99.
He will eventually join his beloved Tauba #acquisition.
He met Tauba on the day of the Liberation of Paris, August 25, 1944. Only Tauba’s death in 2009 made… pic.twitter.com/xtSm8nGMAa— guy birenbaum (@guybirenbaum) November 22, 2025
If he had not published his Memoirs in the eve of his life (16 years old, hold onpublished by Stock in early 2023), Robert Birenbaum’s commitment to the “shadow army” will be known only to those closest to him: his sons, Alain, a doctor, and Guy, a political scientist and publisher, and his grandchildren.
Robert Birenbaum became secret after Vél’ d’Hiv’s arrest
Born in Paris on July 21, 1926, the son of Moshe and Rywka Birenbaum, originally from Poland, Robert was only 14 years old when the war broke out. In disbelief he watched the country that welcomed his parents crumble. The adoption of anti-Semitic laws, which was the prelude to an intense policy of persecution against the Jewish people, marked the high point of its existence. Robert contacted, through his aunt Dora, a family friend involved in the Resistance.
It was an experience he had with his friends when he was 15 years old that pushed him to take the risk. “We were walking quietly down the rue d’Aubervilliers one evening in June, when German soldiers attacked us when they saw that we were Jews. We were insulted and beaten excessively. I vowed that day to take revenge,” he confessed.
His education influenced him to act. “I was always told that it was better to fight, to live upright and with dignity.» It was his shoemaker neighbor, Nathan, who made him aware of the communist cause, introducing him to the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP) who took up arms against the invaders.I was nicknamed “Baratin” because I was good at talking.
Distribution of leaflets, supervision of strategic factories for Germany, the missions he fulfilled were “simple”, in his own words. But it didn’t take long for him to rise through the ranks and take responsibility at 19e district, where he lives, is then responsible for recruiting other young people into the organization.
His enthusiasm is contagious. “I was nicknamed “Baratin” because I was good at talking,” he laughs. From the capture of the Vél’ d’Hiv, which occurred four days before his 16th birthday, the boy began to live in total darkness. Robert Birenbaum took the code name Guy (in honor of Guy Môquet, the young communist who was shot in October 1941, at the age of 17).
Under the orders of Boris Holban
On November 17, 1943, “Guy” had to take on new responsibilities at FTP. He was given an appointment at Père-Lachaise, where he would meet his handling officers who were part of the Missak Manouchian network. The meeting was planned in front of the Paris cemetery. As he left the metro, a young woman passed him and hurriedly ordered him to return.
Members of the Red Posters, a group of 21 fighters affiliated with the Migrant Workers (MOI) movement, have just been arrested. Among them, Marcel Rajman was shot on February 21, 1944, at the same time as Manouchian. The Jewish battalion that Robert Birenbaum would join in 1uh The Paris Regiment would take the name Rajman. In it Robert will fight to liberate Paris. “I’m not Rol-Tanguy. I only fired two shots,” he joked.
Even if his modesty suffers, an episode is worth remembering here. In the current chaos when many Parisians expressed anti-German feelings that became more pronounced as they had collaborated for four years, Robert Birenbaum watched in astonishment at the lynching of a young Wehrmacht soldier. He rushed into the crowd and intervened.
“By saving his life I had the impression, perhaps naïve, of showing the people we had fought against that although they were extremely barbarous, they had not succeeded in making us like them,” he wrote in his Memoirs.
READ ALSO Eight books and one exhibition to get to know Missak Manouchian betterDuring the Liberation period, the young man opened a leather goods shop near the Place de la République. He held it, until the 1980s, with his wife Tauba Zylbersztejn (1928-2009), meeting at the barricades in the tumultuous week of August 1944 when he went on a shooting spree in the capital, under the orders of Boris Holban, Missak Manouchian’s lieutenant. We will have to wait until June 18, 2023 for the President of the Republic to award him the Legion of Honor, in Mont Valérien.
Recognition of the Republic
“The first thing I said to the president when he gave me the medal was that I didn’t take it for myself, but for my friends, for those who were shot here.
To find
Kangaroo today
Answer
The pantheonization of Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, in the spring of 2023, will once again earn him honors from the Republic, accompanied by Léon Landini, another member of the FTP-MOI network.
This incident earned him media attention and various interventions at the school. He would exert his final strength there by paying boundless respect to his comrades in arms. “It is important for the younger generation to know this story so that it doesn’t happen again,” he concluded.
