FTP - MOI The Francs - tireurs et partisans – main - d ' œuvre immigrée ( FTP - MOI ) were a sub - group of the Francs - tireurs et partisans ( FTP ) organization , a component of the French Resistance . A wing composed mostly of foreigners , the MOI maintained an armed force to oppose the German occupation of France during World War II . The Main - d ' œuvre immigrée was the " Immigrant Movement " of the FTP . History . The FTP - MOI groups were organized in the Paris region in 1941 , at the same time as the " Francs - tireurs et partisans " . Their ranks were filled with foreign communists living in France who were not part of the French Communist Party . Although integrated with the " FTP " , these groups depended directly on Jacques Duclos , who passed on orders from the Communist International ( Comintern ) . Members also included other immigrants , especially many young Hungarian writers , artists and intellectuals . Among them were the painter Sándor Józsa ; sculptor István Hajdú ( Etienne Hajdu ) ; journalists László Kőrösi and Imre Gyomra ; photographers Andras ( André ) Steiner , Lucien Hervé , and Ervin Marton ; and printer Ladislas Mandel . The FTP - MOI were among the most active and determined of the resistance groups ; particularly because they were foreigners and mostly Jews , they were under the direct watch of the Vichy regime and the Germans . Without maintaining strict secrecy , they risked internment , deportation and death . Because they depended directly on the Comintern , with Duclos as their intermediary , they were often on the front line when the order to fight came from Moscow . The various French groups were more attentive to the French national political climate . The Parisian groups were initially led by Boris Holban , then the poet turned activist Missak Manouchian . After Manouchian was arrested in 1943 and executed in February 1944 , Holban took over again . The FTP - MOI are particularly well known because of the highly publicized trial of numerous members of the Manouchian Group . Tracked , arrested and interrogated by the French police , the show trial of the 23 members was held in front of a German military tribunal at the hôtel Continental . It began on 17 February 1944 , lasted between two and four days , and after a 30 - minute deliberation , the court reached the following verdict : All of the accused were condemned to death , with no possibility of appeal . All but two were shot immediately on 21 February at Mont - Valérien . The execution of Olga Bancic was suspended for further enquiry and because French law prohibited executing women by firing squad . In a new sentence passed on her birthday of 10 May 1944 at Stuttgart , she was condemned to death . She was beheaded shortly after the sentencing . One accused , Migratulski , was transferred to French jurisdiction . Following the trial and executions , the Germans created a poster with a red background , featuring ten men of the Manouchian group with their names , photos and alleged crimes ; it became known as " l ' Affiche Rouge " . The Germans distributed thousands of copies of the poster around the city to encourage Parisians to think of the partisans as criminal foreigners and " not French " , and discourage resistance ; instead , the Affiches Rouges inspired citizens to more actions . Some marked the posters with phrases such as " Morts pour la France ! " ( They died for France . ) Structure of the FTP - MOI . Paris region , " Groupe Manouchian " . Led by Joseph Epstein and Missak Manouchian , the armed group had the following members : Lyon region , " Compagnie Carmagnole - Liberté " . The armed group " Carmagnole " in Lyon and the armed group " Liberté " in Grenoble had the following members : Herbert Herz was a member of these two groups . Toulouse region , " 35th Brigade " . The 35th Brigade took its name from the thirty - five divisions of gunners of the International Brigades , to which Marcel ( Mendel ) Langer , head of the regional FTP - MOI , had claimed to belong . In February 1943 , Langer was arrested carrying explosives . He was tried by the " section spéciale " of the Toulouse appeals court . The " avocat général " , Lespinasse , demanded his execution and , on 21 March 1943 , Langer was sentenced to death . He was executed on 23 July 1943 . The 35th Brigade then called themselves the Brigade Marcel Langer in his honor . Eighteen members were arrested by the Vichy police and handed over to the Germans . Two died of unknown causes on the train transporting them to be deported . Four were shot . Bibliography . ( * ) Former member of the 35 Brigade FTP - MOI " Marcel Langer "