France honors foreign Resistance fighters as WWII hero Manouchian is inducted into the Panthéon

By SYLVIE CORBET
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — When France hosts grandiose ceremonies commemorating D-Day, the heroic role of Missak Manouchian and other foreigners among French Resistance fighters in World War II is often overlooked. French President Emmanuel Macron sought to change that Wednesday by inducting Manouchian into the country’s Panthéon national monument. Manouchian was a poet who took refuge in France after surviving the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. He was executed in 1944 for fighting fascism and being a leader in the resistance to Nazi occupation. Armenia’s prime minister also attended Wednesday’s ceremony. The Panthéon is the final resting place of France’s most revered figures.