The war between Germany and the USSR continues on the Eastern Front. In early July 1941, inspired by the collaborationist Jacques Doriot, French fascists formed the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF) to fight the Soviet army alongside the Germans.
The Nazis and their collaborators are continuing their crackdown. They have realized the danger posed by the information disseminated by the Resistance.
On August 13, 1941, a German decree prohibited Jews from owning a radio receiver: They had to be prevented from listening to broadcasts from Radio London and Radio Moscow, which opposed the Vichy regime and Nazism—for which Radio Paris served as a mouthpiece. Radio London tirelessly chanted, “Radio Paris—Radio Paris is German.”
The PCF implemented a new policy calling, in particular, for the organization of anti-Hitler protests. Thus, demonstrations—which were by no means the sole initiative of the Communist Party—took place on July 14, 1941. Many young Jews—immigrants or children of immigrants—joined their peers of French origin.
The Vichy regime and the Nazis struck on all fronts: on August 13, 1941, in Paris, during another demonstration organized by the Communist Youth, Samuel Tyszelman—known affectionately as Titi—was arrested by the French police.
The following night, in Paris at the Porte d’Orléans, two Resistance fighters from the Youth Battalions executed a German officer.
On August 15, the Nazis declared that any communist activity was punishable by death. Titi was sentenced to death for “activities in support of the enemy” and “participation in a communist demonstration directed against the German Occupation forces.”
Samuel Tyszelman, a communist identified as a Jew, was executed by firing squad on August 19, along with Henri Gautherot, another participant in the August 13 demonstration. Tyszelman became a symbol of unity in the struggle among activists, whether Jews or not.
