Rayman Marcel

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Marcel Rajman arrived in France in 1931. He lived with his parents in Paris on Rue des Immeubles Industriels in an apartment in the 11th arrondissement. At age ten, he joined the “Pionniers” and the Yask workers’ sports club, both founded by the Jewish section of the M.O.I. (Main-d’Œuvre Immigrée). At age 15, he earned his vocational certificate and, along with his family, worked as a knitter. From the start of the Occupation, he secretly participated in putting up posters and distributing leaflets and flyers. He became the leader of the J.C. (Young Communists) in the 11th arrondissement and later became active in the Jewish Communist Youth (JCJ) organization.

In August 1941, during one of the roundups of Parisian Jews, Marcel witnessed his father’s arrest and soon learned that he had been deported. Deeply shaken, he asked in 1942 to be recruited into the second detachment, the Jewish detachment of the FTP-M.O.I. (Francs-tireurs et partisans de la M.O.I.). He became a trainer for the entire FTP-M.O.I. and trained new fighters, including the Armenian Missak Manouchian.

In the first six months of 1943, the Parisian FTP-M.O.I. carried out 92 attacks, slightly less than half of which were extremely risky direct assaults
, Marcel Rajman was a top target in the surveillance operations conducted by the Special Brigades.

Starting in June 1943, along with Leo Kneler, Spartaco Fontano, and Celestino Alfonso, he was one of the four fighters who made up the “Special Unit” tasked with carrying out the most spectacular and dangerous operations against the occupying forces. He became the unit’s military leader.

On July 28, “The Special Unit” attempted, among other things, an assassination attempt against the commander of Greater Paris, General von Schaumburg. The attempt failed. But on September 28, 1943, the group killed Julius Ritter, the Nazi head of the Compulsory Labor Service (STO) in France. The operation was meticulously planned by the intelligence unit of the FTP-M.O.I. in Paris, led by Cristina Boïco, a young Romanian Jew.

In 1943, Marcel Rajman was identified by the police under his real name. He was arrested by the Special Brigades on November 16, 1943, during a meeting with Olga Bancic, another member of the FTP-M.O.I. For three months, he was brutally tortured.
He was charged in the trial of the 23 FTP-M.O.I. members, which took place on February 17 and 18, 1944. His name and photograph appeared on the “Red Poster” produced by the Germans, with the caption: “Rayman—Polish Jew—13 attacks.” The German military tribunal sentenced him to death. He was executed by firing squad at Fort Mont Valérien on February 21, 1944, along with 21 members of the “Manouchian group.” He was 20 years old.

On February 20, 1994, a park named after him was dedicated in Paris’s 11th arrondissement.