Michel Tagrine

the schoolboy hero of the Resistance

What an extraordinary life Michel Tagrine (1922–1944) led! This young Frenchman, the son of Russian émigrés, joined Jean Galamian’s violin class at the age of nine, in 1931. Destined for a career in music, he chose to join the Resistance in 1940 and ultimately sacrificed his life for the cause.

1932

A promising violinist

The name of Michel Tagrine, now forgotten, appears for the first time in the programme for the concert held at the end of 1932 at the’Music Teacher Training College. As early as the following year, Boris de Schlœzer exclaims:

It is a exceptional phenomenon represented by the young Michel Tagrine, who performed it from memory […] with astonishing clarity.

In the photograph opposite, he can be seen (in the back row, centre) flanked by his two teachers, Valentin Blumberg and Jean Galamian.

French newspapers soon began to report on this budding success. One article mentioned the « heat » from Michel Tagrine’s play. It is regarded by the daily newspaper The Day such as one of the « the top three pupils trained by the Russian Conservatoire in Paris ». His name appears in around thirty articles published between 1932 and 1943, always in a positive light.

Three months before the outbreak of the war, during the performance at the Diaghilev exhibition at the Louvre, Latest News note:

Michel Tagrine, a member of the «Galamian cohort», who now works in Blumberg’s class, has in awe through the power and resonance of his bow, through the thoroughness of his interpretation and the character that has been evident in him since childhood: the technique and style of performance in his violin pieces are impeccable.

1941

Affected by anti-Semitic laws

Michel Tagrine is crowned by the first National Conservatoire Prize. He is performing at the Salle Pleyel. But he was soon unable to perform any more concerts. Like his sister Nadia, a pianist, he was regarded as «half-Jewish» under the anti-Semitic laws of the occupying forces, the Vichy regime and the administration of the National Conservatoire.

There is hardly anywhere else but the Russian Conservatoire where Michel and Nadia can perform freely. They play as a duo and both sit their end-of-year exams in June 1941, a few days before Germany launched an attack on the Soviet Union with four million soldiers.

With their degrees in hand, Michel and Nadia are among the leading interpreters from the Russian Conservatoire, featured on the programme for the two concerts held in June and at Christmas 1942. After the war, Nadia went on to become a renowned pianist. Michel, however, did not have time to become a great violinist. As early as 1940, he joined the Resistance.

1944

In the Resistance

Michel Tagrine is a member of the orchestra conducted by Charles Munch, who was awarded the Legion of Honour following the Liberation for his actions in the Resistance. It may have been through him that Micha rallied the Freelancers and Partisans (FTP) under the code name « Lieutenant Barbie»r". Within the underground organisation, he took part in several operations: distributing leaflets, freeing prisoners at Tenon Hospital, retrieving weapons… At the same time, the young man continued to play the violin.

Everything changed during a shootout with militiamen on 19 August 1944. His comrade was killed; he himself was seriously injured his right hand. At that moment, Michel Tagrine knew that the career as a violinist he had dreamt of was over. So, drawing strength solely from his courage, he threw himself wholeheartedly into the fighting for the Liberation of Paris. He told his friends:

I haven’t been through all that from 1940 until now just so that, once we’re liberated, I can sit quietly at home watching what’s going on down below through my binoculars!

1944

the final battle

In the final hours of the The Liberation of Paris, the fighting intensified. Michel Tagrine played his full part. After derailing a German military train, he set off with his group to liberate the Caserne de la République. The exchange of fire lasted all night.

On the morning of 25 August 1944, the young man still had his weapons in his hands. Madeleine Riffaud, a heroine of the Resistance and comrade-in-arms of Michel Tagrine, recounts:

The barracks were surrounded. Barricades sealed off the square. The company had to cross the Canal Saint-Martin under machine-gun fire and take up positions on Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple… The use of submachine guns from a rooftop forced the Germans, who had left their barracks, to return inside, and they eventually raised a white flag. Michel Tagrine, then known as «Lieutenant Barbier», took the opportunity to step out into the open to come to the aid of a wounded man.

The Germans have lost; they’ve raised the white flag, and yet one of them is still firing. Michel Tagrine falls whilst he was coming to the aid of one of his comrades.

1944-46

died for France

The following day, Saturday 26 August, the General de Gaulle marched down the Champs-Élysées in front of more than a million people. He wrote in his War Memoirs :

Ah! It’s the sea! A huge crowd has gathered on both sides of the road.

Among the heroes he honours posthumously is Michel Tagrine, who «died for France». One street is now named after him in the 19th arrondissement, not far from the Buttes-Chaumont, where he had caused the German military train to derail. At 17 Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, a plate pays tribute to him:

It was here that Michel Tagrine, Lieutenant Barbier, aged 22, was killed by the Germans on 25 August 1944, a victim of his own courage.

On 30 January 1946, the SMRE organised a concert at the Salle Gaveau featuring the string orchestra conducted by Valentin Blumberg, Michel Tagrine’s last teacher. It was dedicated to his memory, and the proceeds were allocated to the installation of a monument at his grave, in Batignolles Cemetery.