# Thomas Elek > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Elek > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Elek.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Elek > Source revision: 1213901041 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Thomas Elek**, also known as **Tamás Elek** and **KERPAL** (7 December 1924 – 21 February 1944) was one of 22 members of the [French Resistance](/source/French_Resistance) convicted and executed at the fort of [Mont Valérien](/source/Mont_Val%C3%A9rien) as one of the [Manouchian Group](/source/Manouchian_Group), part of the French liberation army [FTP-MOI](/source/FTP-MOI). After the executions, the [Vichy government](/source/Vichy_France) sought to discredit the resistance members, and widely distributed and posted thousands of copies of the *[Affiche Rouge](/source/Affiche_Rouge).* Named for its red background, the poster featured ten of the Manouchian group, including Elek. It identified him as "Elek Juif Hongrois 8 déraillements" (Elek, Hungarian Jew, 8 derailments). Elek had immigrated as a child with his family from [Hungary](/source/Hungary) to France in 1930, when they settled in Paris. After France fell to [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) in 1940 and enemy forces occupied Paris, he dropped out of the [lycée](/source/Secondary_education_in_France) and became involved in underground resistance movements. He was credited with armed attacks on German soldiers, including a train derailment in July 1943 that resulted in the death of 600 men. ## Biography ### Early years Thomas Elek was born in [Budapest](/source/Budapest), [Hungary](/source/Hungary) on 7 December 1924 to a family of [communist](/source/Communist) intellectuals. The Elek family (Thomas, his father Sandor, his sister Marthe and his mother Hélène, then pregnant with his brother, Bela) emigrated to [France](/source/France) in 1930. They settled in [Paris](/source/Paris), where his mother, after various minor jobs, became a [restaurateur](/source/Restaurateur) in 1934. ### Second World War Elek left the [Lycée Louis-le-Grand](/source/Lyc%C3%A9e_Louis-le-Grand) at the age of 16, to become involved in the underground movement after Nazi German forces defeated France and occupied Paris. He joined a group of students at the [Sorbonne](/source/University_of_Paris) who were linked to the *[Groupe du musée de l'Homme](/source/Groupe_du_mus%C3%A9e_de_l'Homme)*, wrote and distributed tracts, and stuck *papillons* (butterflies – flyers) to walls. In August 1942, sympathising with the *[Jeunesses Communistes](/source/Jeunesses_Communistes)* (Communist Youth), he became involved with the [FTP-MOI](/source/FTP-MOI) (Francs-tireurs et partisans – Main-d'œuvre immigrée) and took up the armed struggle of resistance. His *[nom de guerre](/source/Nom_de_guerre)* was KERPAL. Shortly after, Elek was assigned a solo attack on the Rive Gauche German bookstore, in which he used a [booby-trapped](/source/Booby-trap) copy of Marx's *[Capital](/source/Das_Kapital).* In March 1943, along with the young [Czech](/source/Czechs), Pavel Simo, he made a [grenade](/source/Grenade) attack on a restaurant reserved for German officers at [Asnières](/source/Asni%C3%A8res-sur-Seine). Simo was arrested, and executed on 22 May 1943 at the [Stand de tir de Balard](/source/Stand_de_tir_de_Balard). On 1 June 1943 in a spontaneous attack, Elek threw two grenades into a group of 70 Germans in front of the [Jaurès](/source/Jaur%C3%A8s_(Paris_M%C3%A9tro)) metro station. He was promoted and named head of the group at the center of the 4th detachment of the [FTP-MOI](/source/FTP-MOI) Paris region; they were known as *des dérailleurs* and commanded by [Joseph Boczov](/source/Joseph_Boczov). Elek participated in several [railway](/source/Railway) derailments, notably that of 28 July on the Paris-[Château-Thierry](/source/Ch%C3%A2teau-Thierry) line. This derailment is said to have caused the death of 600 German soldiers.[1] In 1943 Elek was arrested with others of the [Manouchian Group](/source/Manouchian_Group) and tortured by the Vichy *[Brigades Spéciales](/source/Brigades_Sp%C3%A9ciales)*. He was transferred to the Germans and detained in [Fresnes Prison](/source/Fresnes_Prison). All but the sole woman member of the Manouchian group were [condemned to death](/source/Capital_punishment) in a [show trial](/source/Show_trial) by military officers, and executed by firing squad three days later, 21 February 1944, at [Mont Valérien](/source/Mont_Val%C3%A9rien). The woman was beheaded at another site. ## Legacy - Rather than acting as a deterrent, the *Affiche Rouge* inspired citizens to more actions with the Résistance. Residents wrote *Morts pour La France* (Died for France) across the posters of the Manouchian group. - Elek is portrayed by actor [Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet](/source/Gr%C3%A9goire_Leprince-Ringuet) in the 2009 French film *[The Army of Crime](/source/The_Army_of_Crime)*, directed by [Robert Guédiguian](/source/Robert_Gu%C3%A9diguian). ## See also - [Francs-tireurs et partisans - Main-d'œuvre immigrée](/source/Francs-tireurs_et_partisans_-_Main-d'%C5%93uvre_immigr%C3%A9e) - [Affiche rouge](/source/Affiche_rouge) - [Brigades Spéciales](/source/Brigades_Sp%C3%A9ciales) - [Geheime Feld Polizei](/source/Geheime_Feld_Polizei) ## Bibliography - FFI – FTPF, *Pages de gloire des vingt-trois*, Immigration, 1951. - *La Mémoire d'Hélène* (autobiographie d'Hélène Elek), éd François Maspéro, 1977 - *Les Jeunes et la Résistance*, dir. Laurence Thibault, AERI/La Documentation Française, 2007 - *L'Affiche rouge*, Adam Rayski, Mairie de Paris, 2003 - *La Résistance* en Ile-de-France, DVD-Rom, AERI, 2004 - *Le Sang de l'étranger – Les immigrés de la M.O.I. dans la Résistance*, S. Courtois, D. Peschanski, A. Rayski, Fayard: 1989 ## References 1. ["Thomas Elek"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090506093102/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/idcard.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006628). Archived from [the original](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/idcard.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006628) on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009. ## External links - [The daily life of a "Terrorist" (French)](http://l-afficherouge-manouchian.hautetfort.com/) - [Conversation between d'André Santini and Henry Karayan (French)](https://web.archive.org/web/20090108035510/http://www.anciens-combattants-armeniens.org/henri_karayan.htm) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Elek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Elek) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Elek?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.