Charles Michels

Charles Michels (6 March 1903, in Paris – 22 October 1941, in Châteaubriant) was a trade unionist and communist militant.

[1] He was raised in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and had to start working very young: he was hired at eleven years in a shoe factory.

After his military service, in 1923-1924, he became an instructor at the FSGT (Fédération sportive et gymnique du travail), the sports organization of the CGT.

Although the PCF was dissolved in September 1939 for activity tending to "propagate the slogans emanating from or pertaining to the Third International ",[3] Michels surrendered on 9 January 1940 at the opening session of the Chamber of Deputies where he met André Mercier, Raymond Guyot and Fernand Grenier.

He was a member of the underground committee of the camp, and, in June 1941, prepared the escape of four communist leaders: Fernand Grenier, Henri Raynaud, Leon Mauvais and Eugene Hénaff.

Following an attack on Karl Hotz, head of the Kommandantur de Nantes, he was shot by the Nazis on 22 October 1941, at the Carrière des Rifles alongside 26 other hostages in the camp of Châteaubriant, including Guy Môquet and Jean-Pierre Timbaud, and 21 hostages in Nantes and Paris.