Conversations shared during this week reminded me of this astonishing photo. Georges Blind, a member of the French resistance later to be murdered in Auschwitz, was subjected to a mock execution by the SS upon capture in October 1944. The troops intended to force Blind to reveal information, and to produce a propaganda photograph to intimidate fellow anti-Nazi activists. On both counts they were thwarted, the latter by Blind’s wide, mocking smile at the firing squad.
