Archives 23 February 2024

When Agnès told "L'affiche rouge"

On Wednesday February 21, Missak and Mélinée Manouchian entered the Pantheon. An opportunity to look back at the various tributes paid to them prior to this national tribute, and in particular Aragon's poem Strophes pour se souvenir (1955), which inspired Leo Férré to write the song L'Affiche rouge in 1961. Since the age of 11, listening to this song has evoked a special emotion in Agnès, palpable when she spoke about it on France Inter in 2021 (listen here, in French).

In 2018, Agnès had already expressed her love for Ferré's song in Le Monde: "This text has always moved me. Even when I was 11, it made me cry. Jean Moulin has always been my hero. I hung a photo of him cut out of the newspaper on my bedroom mirror. I'm impressed by his courage. The torture of members of the Resistance, the persecution of the first Christians, all these things make me wonder. Would I have had the courage to resist? I remember Malraux's voice echoing through my Saint-Michel neighborhood at dusk, that day in 1964 when Jean Moulin's ashes were transferred to the Panthéon... So impressive."