They shall not pass " They shall not pass " ( ; ) is a slogan used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy . It was most famously used during the Battle of Verdun in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle . It appears on propaganda posters , such as that by Maurice Neumont after the Second Battle of the Marne , which was later adopted on uniform badges by units manning the Maginot Line . Later during the war , it also was used by Romanian soldiers during the Battle of Mărăşeşti . It was also used during the Spanish Civil War , this time at the Siege of Madrid by Dolores Ibárruri Gómez , a member of the Communist Party of Spain , in her famous " " speech on 18 July 1936 . The leader of the fascist forces , Generalissimo Francisco Franco , upon gaining Madrid , responded to this slogan with " " ( " We have passed " ) . " " was used by British anti - fascists during the October 1936 Battle of Cable Street , and is still used in this context in some political circles . It was often accompanied by the words ( we will pass ) to indicate that communists rather than fascists will be the ones to seize state power . The phrase was used again in December 1943 by French - Canadian officer Paul Triquet of the Royal 22 Regiment at Casa Berardi , in an action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross . The phrase was again used in December 2002 by Colonel Emmanuel Maurin , commanding a French Foreign Legion unit in the Ivory Coast ; without communist or far left connotations . In last quarter of 2009 , it has been used in the political propaganda of Estonia by the Estonian Centre Party . In March 2010 , the phrase " " was again adopted by anti - fascist leftist forces who created Unite Against Fascism against the English Defence League ; one of the first instances of the slogan being used in this era was the Bolton EDL rally . In February 2011 , " No pasarán ! " was used by leftist demonstrators blockading a street in Dresden to stop a neo - Nazi march . In August 2012 during the trial of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova wore a t - shirt with the slogan " " ¡ NO PASARÁN ! " " written across the front . Literary use . As veteran of World War I , the French poet and founder of Surrealism , André Breton , used the slogan as part of a poem called " Rano Raraku " , include in his collected " Poèmes ( 1916 - 1948 ) " , published on 1948 . Jan Drda in his " Silent Barricade " ( 1949 ) , the last short story called as the same as the book , uses the term " NO PASSARAN " while three men are defending the last barricade in Prague during the uprising against the Wehrmacht in World War II . In J . R . R . Tolkien ' s novel " The Fellowship of the Ring " , the first volume of " The Lord of the Rings " , the wizard Gandalf declares repeatedly , " You cannot pass ! " when he blocks the pursuing demon called a Balrog . Tolkien was a World War I veteran . In the 2001 film , Gandalf first says , " You cannot pass " , and , a moment later , shouts , " You shall not pass ! " while striking his staff upon the ground . In " Monty Python and the Holy Grail " , The Black Knight instigates a sword fight with King Arthur by declaring " None shall pass . " Emil Renard in Max Brooks ' s " World War Z " uttered the last words over his radio " On ne passe pas ! " while fighting zombies , as told by his brother Andre Renard to the narrator . In Metro 2033 the communist brigade that saves Artyom in Tverskaya station quote this slogan when parting with him in Paveletskaya station . In George R . R . Martin ' s fantasy series " A Song of Ice and Fire " , the character Edmure Tully concludes a letter to his sister Catelyn with the phrase " They shall not cross " in reference to the Battle of the Fords . In the Star Wars New Jedi Order book " Traitor " , Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode uttered Monty Python ' s Black Knight variant of this phrase – " " None shall pass " " – as he defended a passage way against hordes of enemies , earning such regard for himself he is said to have become deified in the Yuuzhan Vong pantheon . The earliest reference found is in an 1897 book called " His Grace of Osmund " by Francis Hodgson Burnett , [ Charles Scribner ' s Sons ] , " I wait here like a brigand , " he said to himself with a harsh laugh , " or a highwayman – but he shall not pass . " ( Chapter XXI ) This can ' t be true as the book came out before the slogan was used famously . As a result of their socialist , Irish Republican and anti - fascist affiliations , the slogan has been widely adopted by supporters of Glasgow Celtic Football Club . The leftist supporters group for the Turkish football team Fenerbahçe , Vamos Bien , also uses this slogan . Nicaragua . The phrase was also used by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua , and immortalised in the Carlos Godoy song " ¡ No Pasarán ! "