Pierre Bernard Aidenbaum (né Ajdenbaum; born 3 May 1942) is a French

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 th ...

(PS) politician. He was a member of the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental counc ...

from 1989 to 2020, and mayor of the

3rd arrondissement of Paris The 3rd arrondissement of Paris (''IIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements (districts) of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as the ''"troisième"'' meaning "third" in Fr ...

from 1995 to 2020. Born to a Jewish family during the

German 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 ...

, he was the president of the

International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism—or Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme (LICRA) in French—was established in 1927, and is opposed to intolerance, xenophobia and exclusion. In 1927, French journ ...

(LICRA) from 1993 to 1997.

Biography

Aidenbaum was born in

Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, literally ''Le Puy in Velay''; oc, Lo Puèi de Velai ) is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire, the city is famous for its ca ...

to a family of

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

origin who were living under false identities due to persecution in

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 opposin ...

. In 1992, he became the president of the

(LICRA). During his presidency, LICRA was one of eleven civil rights groups to file complaints against far-right politician

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

for trivialising the Holocaust; in 1997 Le Pen was fined the equivalent of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

17,000 to each group. Aidenbaum was succeeded by his vice-president

Patrick Gaubert Patrick Gaubert (born 6 July 1948) is a Paris-born French politician who was a Member of the European Parliament for the Île-de-France through 2009. He is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, which is part of the European People's Part ...

in 1999. Aidenbaum was elected mayor of the

in July 1995, succeeding Jacques Dominati. He remained in office until the council was dissolved in July 2020 as the first four arrondissements became

Paris Centre Paris Centre is an administrative division of Paris encompassing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements of the city. In August 2016, ministers Jean-Michel Baylet, Bernard Cazeneuve and Estelle Grelier proposed reforms to the territorial div ...

. He was also on the

from 1989. In July 2020, he became deputy mayor to

Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party. Hidalgo served as First Deputy Mayor of Paris ...

, being put in charge of the river

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...

with the aim of making the heavily polluted and off-limits river safe for public swimming by the time that Paris hosts the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

. In 2018, he supported Hidalgo's plan to pedestrianise the centre of Paris, as long as it was done gradually in respect to businesses. In 2017, he renamed the ''Square du Temple'' park after the recently deceased Jewish activist

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...

. He resigned as deputy mayor in September 2020 due to accusations of sexual assault. He resigned his council seat in November, having been charged with rape. He was made a Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 1999 and an Officer of the same order in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aidenbaum, Pierre 1942 births Living people People from Le Puy-en-Velay French people of Polish-Jewish descent Socialist Party (France) politicians Mayors of arrondissements of Paris Councillors of Paris Officiers of the Légion d'honneur