Jacques Lusseyran (19 September 1924 – 27 July 1971) was a French author and political activist. Blinded at the age of 7, at 17 Lusseyran became a leader in 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 ...

against

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 ...

occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

in 1941. He was eventually sent to

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 ...

because of his involvement, and was one of 30 of his group of 2000 inmates to survive. He wrote about his life, including his experience during the war, in his autobiography ''And There Was Light''.

Life

Lusseyran was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. He became totally blind in a school accident at the age of 7. He soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships, particularly with one boy named Jean. At a young age he became alarmed at the rise of

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 ...

in Germany and decided to learn the German language so that he could listen to German radio broadcasts. By 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, he had accomplished this task. Germany invaded France in 1940. In the spring of 1941, at the age of 17, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with other students from the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

and the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

. He was put in charge of recruitment. The group later merged with another Resistance group called

Défense de la France ''Défense de la France'' was an Underground media in German-occupied Europe, underground newspaper produced by a group of the French Resistance during World War II. Essentially developed in the Vichy France, Northern Zone, ''Défense de la Fra ...

. In July 1943 he organized and participated in a campaign to drop pro-resistance leaflets on trains, and claimed to carry

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

canisters to stop people from interfering, though he never used them. On July 20, 1943, Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a member of his resistance group named Elio. His knowledge of German helped him understand more of the situation than most French prisoners. He was sent to

with 2000 other French citizens, where, because he was blind, he did not have to participate in forced labor as most other prisoners did. Soon most of his childhood friends and fellow resistance operatives were arrested, and he met some of them in the concentration camp. Lusseyran helped to motivate a spirit of resistance within the camp, particularly within the French and German prisoners. In April 1945, he was liberated; 30 of his group of 2000 inmates survived. After the war, Lusseyran taught

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and wrote books, including the autobiographical ''And There Was Light'', which chronicles the first 20 years of his life. He died together with his third wife Marie in a car accident in France on July 27, 1971.

Writings

*
Against the Pollution of the I: Selected Writings of Jacques Lusseyran
'. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1999. . *
And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance
'. New York, NY: Parabola Books, 1998. .

References

External links

Stories of the teenage resistanceFind a grave profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lusseyran, Jacques 1924 births 1971 deaths French blind people French memoirists French Resistance members Road incident deaths in France Buchenwald concentration camp survivors French male non-fiction writers 20th-century memoirists 20th-century French male writers