TV Presentation of Meline Manouchian's "Missak Manouchian: Through the Eyes of an Eyewitness" (Video)
11/04/2024
Newmag Publishing House showcased Meline Manouchian’s memoir, "Missak Manouchian: Through the Eyes of an Eyewitness," on Armenia TV’s "Good Morning." The book features unique poetry, letters, archives, and exclusive photographs.
Translator Lilit Bleyan shared that just days prior, she was at the Pantheon in Paris, where Missak and Meline Manouchian were reburied.
"Manouchian is a well-known figure in France, especially as discussions around the resistance movement gain traction, raising the French spirit."
At the Pantheon, the names of all the members of Manouchian’s family are inscribed near the entrance. Missak never had the chance to visit Armenia; it remained a dream for him. In his last letter to Meline, he expressed his wish to leave his literary legacy to Armenia. Meline arrived in Armenia after Missak's execution and struggled for a long time to return to meet her sister. This book narrates the complicated fate of "two little orphans."
Meline Manouchian's memoir was published thirty years after Missak's death, and fifty years later, it was released in Marseille. This year, Newmag Publishing House translated and published the memoir in Armenian. The book is divided into two parts: the first consists of Meline's memoirs, while the second includes interviews and photographs.
Our edition also features a bonus: when Meline returned to France from Armenia, she invited young writer Marc Deleuze to her home. He spent a month listening to her stories about Missak and recorded them. Now 80 years old, we asked him to write an epilogue for the book, detailing how he met Meline and the process of capturing her narratives.
Readers, historians, and specialists will discover how Meline and Missak became members of the French resistance, along with important and exclusive photographs documenting their journey. The memoir was edited by Armen Amirkhanyan.
"Through this book, we gain insight into why Manouchian and his comrades fought for France."
In truth, they fought not only for France but also for Armenia, their families, and their lost homeland. Missak's family had also fallen victim to fascism and intolerance. He grew up in an orphanage in Lebanon, and when news of the earthquake in Armenia reached them, the children sacrificed their meals for a day to send the money to support their homeland.
Share
Meline Manouchian
7800 ֏
Description
On February 21, 1944, the Nazis shot 22 members of the French Resistance in the Mont Valerien castle, not far from Paris. They remained in history as "Manouchian's group". This memoir of Misak Manouchian's wife and friend of the struggle, Meline, is a very personal testimony. Many events and details described in the book could not be told by anyone else with such accuracy and sensitivity. The book contains documents and letters (some never published), which help to see Manouchian in a new light. The hero of the resistance movement dreamed of remaining a poet and living with art and music. The group led by Misak Manouchian stood out for its actions in 1941-1943: murders of high-ranking Nazis, sabotage, disruption of trains transporting weapons and ammunition, failures of German military facilities. The book helps to imagine the "Armenian resistance" within the French movement, its roots, psychological and human characteristics. Meline and Misak, two orphans who survived the Genocide, along with many other Armenians, intellectuals, artists, who took refuge in France from all over the world, participated in the resistance of the country that gave them shelter and waged their struggle against evil and for dignity.
Read also
Welcome Back to Ferrantemania: The Final Book of the Neapolitan Quartet Published in Armenian (trailer)
American journalist and author Lee Strobel discusses his bestseller "The Case for Christ" (video)
International Press and Experts Praise Nexus (Video)