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Remarkable Heroes and Heroines of the French Resistance in World War II

Khalid Elhassan May 12, 2025 18 min

Resistance - Women and men of the French Resistance — Women and men of the French Resistance. Pegasus Battlefield Tours

6. A Jewish Family Hiding From the Nazis

Resistance - French Gendarmes and German Gestapo round up Jews for deportation in 1943 — French Gendarmes and German Gestapo round up Jews for deportation in 1943. Frank Falla Archives

The world’s most famous mime was born Marcel Mangel into a Jewish family in Strasbourg, France. His father was a kosher butcher originally from Poland, and his mother hailed from today’s Ukraine. The family had to hide its Jewish origins when the Nazis conquered France in 1940. They fled to central France, but the father was captured in 1944 and sent to Auschwitz, where he perished.

Marceau moved to Paris with a new name and forged identity papers. The future star went underground in the French capital, adopted the surname “Marceau” after a French Revolutionary War general, and joined the Resistance. His underground activities included the rescue of many Jewish children from German clutches.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.