Jean Moulin — France
As Prefect of Eure-et-Loir, Moulin refuses German demands to sign a document blaming French soldiers for German atrocities — cutting his own throat rather than comply.
Jean Moulin served as Prefect of Chartres from 1939. On 17 June 1940 German soldiers forced him to sign a document falsely attributing atrocities to Senegalese troops. Rather than comply, he cut his own throat with broken glass — surviving, but scarring himself for life. He was dismissed by Vichy and began building the Resistance network that would make him France's greatest wartime hero.