31 Facts About Albert Ouzoulias

Albert Ouzoulias was a French politician and a Communist leader of the French Resistance during World War II using the name of "Colonel Andre".

Albert Ouzoulias played a major role in the 1944 liberation of Paris.

Albert Ouzoulias was enlisted in the army when the war broke out, was captured in 1940 and interned by the Germans, but escaped and made his way back to France in July 1941.

Albert Ouzoulias was assigned to various senior positions in the Communist resistance organization.

Albert Ouzoulias was in charge of all resistance forces in the Paris region at the time of the liberation of Paris by the Allied forces in August 1944.

Albert Georges Ouzoulias was born in Contrevoz, Ain on 20 January 1915.

Albert Ouzoulias failed the entrance examination for the Normal School at Bourg-en-Bresse, and got a job at a postal sorting station.

Albert Ouzoulias was committed to pacifism and a follower of Henri Barbusse and Romain Rolland.

Albert Ouzoulias went to Paris to attend the European Anti-Fascist Workers' Congress at the Salle Pleyel in June 1933.

In 1934 Albert Ouzoulias became in turn secretary of the World Committee in his commune of Virieu-le-Grand, Ain, departmental secretary of the Jeunes contre le fascisme, then member of the national committee of the movement.

Albert Ouzoulias joined the Jeunesse communiste where he showed great energy.

Albert Ouzoulias met Robert Deloche and the two men became friends.

Albert Ouzoulias accompanied a delegation led by Danielle Casanova to the International Communist Youth Congress in Moscow in 1935.

In 1939 Albert Ouzoulias met Cecile Romagon, a young activist, at a JC party.

Albert Ouzoulias was called up in March 1939, but remained in touch with Romagon whom he married on 11 May 1940.

Immediately after the ceremony Albert Ouzoulias went into action with the 12th Colonial Infantry Regiment of Agen, where he was an artillery observer.

Albert Ouzoulias was captured on 10 June 1940 and interned at Stalag XVIIB in Krems, Carinthia, Austria.

Albert Ouzoulias found his wife living under an assumed name in Reims with their son, Maurice, who had been born during his detention.

On 2 August 1941 Albert Ouzoulias met Danielle Casanova in Montparnasse and was put in charge of the Bataillons de la Jeunesse, fighting groups that were being created by the Jeunesse Communiste.

In May 1942 Albert Ouzoulias was promoted to National Military Commissar.

Albert Ouzoulias was a proponent of quick strikes against carefully studied targets by small groups of fighters, who would then rapidly withdraw.

Albert Ouzoulias drew up guidelines for urban warfare in which FTP units could attack greatly superior German forces and be protected while they withdrew.

Cecile Albert Ouzoulias was arrested in April 1943 while using false papers, but was released in August 1943 due to being pregnant.

From June to August 1944 Albert Ouzoulias coordinated the FTP's military action in the Paris region.

Five days after the surrender of Dietrich von Choltitz, the German governor of Paris, Albert Ouzoulias assigned Pierre Georges the task of forming a battalion of resistance fighters.

In 1946 Albert Ouzoulias was awarded the Legion of Honour, but he did not play a major role in politics in the post-war years.

Albert Ouzoulias was elected to the Paris Municipal Council, where he took part in heated exchanges between the Gaullists and Communists.

Albert Ouzoulias was charged with various missions, including meetings with the Vietnamese forces before and after the French withdrawal from their colonies in Indo-China.

Albert Ouzoulias was active in various associations of veterans of the Resistance.

Albert Ouzoulias was the first president of the Association des Amis des FTPF, and was involved in the Federation internationale de la Resistance and the Association nationale des anciens Combattants de la Resistance.

Albert Ouzoulias wrote about the young communists who participated in the armed resistance in his 1967 Les Bataillons de la Jeunesse.