Gabriel Cohn-Bendit (14 April 1936 – 17 December 2021) was a French activist and academic. He frequented anarchist circles and was part of the far-left in the 1960s and 1970s while later joining the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

Biography

Gabriel was the son of lawyer and jurist , both German Jews who had fled following the rise of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. He grew up in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, sharing a neighborhood with

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish ...

, Hannah Arendt, and

Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer (; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls (; ), was a German-French film director who worked in Germany (1931–1933), France (1933–1940 and 1950–1957), and the United States (1947–1950). He made near ...

. He became a French citizen after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, unlike his brother, Daniel, who opted for German citizenship until 2015. During World War II, Cohn-Bendit's parents took refuge in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

, with his mother serving as treasurer of the . From 1943 to 1944, he lived in hiding with a family of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

under the false identity of a Belgian refugee. He returned to Paris in 1947 to live with his paternal grandmother. His parents returned the following year, but moved to Germany where his father continued to practice law. He studied at the Lycée Buffon and was notably the classmate of

Laurent Terzieff Laurent Terzieff (27 June 1935, in Toulouse – 2 July 2010, in Paris) was a French actor. Biography Terzieff was the son of French ceramist Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...

, who also inspired him to join the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

. He then joined the

Socialisme ou Barbarie Socialisme ou Barbarie () was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period whose name comes from a phrase which was misattributed to Friedrich Engels by Rosa Luxemburg in the '' Junius Pamphlet'', but which pr ...

movement, headed by

Cornelius Castoriadis Cornelius Castoriadis ( el, Κορνήλιος Καστοριάδης; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, social critic, economist, ps ...

. In 1959, he moved to Saint-Nazaire after his wife obtained a job there, and he earned a degree in German, subsequently becoming a secondary school teacher of the language. At the time, Socialisme ou Barbarisme was involved in the . He integrated into his community by meeting local leftist activists, such as Alexandre Hébert of the

Workers' Force The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force (french: Confédération Générale du Travail - Force Ouvrière, or simply , FO), is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT ...

. In 1962, he joined the Unified Socialist Party. Cohn-Bendit served as national leader of the from 1973 to 1975. However, he soon after departed from many of the leftist organizations, such as the . After the election of François Mitterrand in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, Cohn-Bendit successfully advocated for the opening of the . He taught there until 1987, when he left France for

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

to serve as a German teacher. However, he was unable to settle into Burkina Faso and returned to France and founded the ''Groupement des retraités éducateurs sans frontières''. In 2009, he applied for Burkinabè citizenship, which he acquired the following year. Throughout his later career, he was known as a "tireless activist of alternative education". In 2003, he participated in the , where his ideas led to the establishment of the "Réseau éducation pour tous en Afrique". Cohn-Bendit died in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

on 17 December 2021, at the age of 85.

Publications

*''Le Gauchisme, remède à la maladie sénile du communisme'' (1969) *''Intolérable intolérance'' (1981) *''Nous sommes en marche'' (1999) *''L'École doit éduquer à la désobéissance : le lycée expérimental de Saint-Nazaire'' (2001) *''Lettre ouverte à tous ceux qui n'aiment pas l'école'' (2003) *''École de Tersac, Lycée de Saint-Nazaire : Alternatives à l'Education nationale'' (2006) *''À bas le Parti Vert! Vive l'écologie!'' (2011) *''Pour une autre école, Repenser l’éducation, vite !'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn-Bendit, Gabriel 1936 births 2021 deaths French Jews French people of German-Jewish descent French activists French socialists French Communist Party members People from Montrouge