World War II broke out, Birger goined in the ‘underground : resistance movement against the Nazi occupation forces. He organized’. the first underground meeting of the Comite Communiste Internationale, which was held July. 14, 1940, ‘in the woods at Saint-Cloud.
Among his tasks in the underground: was the difficult and dan-— gerous work of gétting out clandestine publications. He became dis-tinguished for his ability to organize the production and distribution of material in a methodical way ‘that reduced to a minimum the risk of discovery and arrest.
- His political activities did not prevent him from continuing his studies in the field: ‘of mathematics: and he became a specialist in aerodynamics. : 2 ar
To further the underground political work, Birger took a job in.the Panhard automobile plant. There he put out a factory newspaper that gained influence emong the workers. He participated in the organization of a workers militia: which remained active until after the war when Maurice Thorez, the Communist leader, succeeded as a minister in de Gaulle's cabinet in getting the workers to give up their arms and dissolve their militia. :
Up to the time of his death, "Bruno," as he was | affectionately called by his comrades, remained an energetic participant in the leadership of the French Trotskyist movement. For-.the past ten years he served as a member of the party's Control Commission...
AND IN WORLD WAR III? |
oe "Th -VWorla War I there were 9,800,000 killed, 5 per cent of whom were civilians; in World War Il, of 52,000 ,000 dead, 48 per 7 cent were civilians; the Korean conflict produced 9,200, 600 dead, of whom 84 per cent were civilians." -- Tom Stonier in Nuclear Disaster.
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