Benjamin Crémieux (1888–1944) was a French author, critic and literary historian.

Early life

Crémieux was born to a Jewish family in Narbonne, France in 1888. His family had long ties in the region, having 'settled in France as early as the 14th century'.Braun, Sidney D. 1987. "Benjamin Crémieux: Jew and Frenchman." ''Judaism'' 36 (4) (Fall): 451. .^:452

Military service

He fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

during his obligatory military service in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

and was severely wounded during battle.^:452 After the war he focused on studying Italian literature and history.^:452

Career

Crémieux contributed to a variety of literary magazines and journals, including La Gazette du Franc,^:270 and the influential literary journal

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

(NRF). He started writing for the NRF in 1920 and

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

invited him to be a member of the journal's editorial committee as early as 1926.^:22 In 1928 he defended his doctoral thesis ''Essai Sur l'évolution littéraire de l'Italie de 1870 á nos jours'' at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, which was published later that year.^:41 He published one of his most important texts in 1931, ''Inquiétude et Reconstruction,'' which provided a survey of French literature since the turn of the century.^:139 He also served in a variety of service roles. He was 'chief of the Italian bureau of the

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Quai ...

'^:41 and the permanent secretary of the French section of

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

.^:139 In 1940, Crémieux joined the French underground and became a leader of the ''

Maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

''.

Death

In April 1943, two

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

agents detained Crémieux in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

s.^:458 He was arrested, imprisoned, and deported to Nazi Germany, where, in April 1944 he was executed in the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

.^:458.

Legacy

Crémieux introduced a number of important literary figures for the French public through his translations, including

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

and

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo ...

;^:138 he was also an early champion of the works of

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cremieux, Benjamin 1888 births 1944 deaths French magazine editors French male essayists 20th-century French essayists 20th-century French male writers Jewish French history French people who died in Buchenwald concentration camp French Jews who died in the Holocaust French military personnel of World War I French people executed in Nazi concentration camps