André Schwarz-Bart (May 23, 1928 – September 30, 2006) was a French novelist 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 Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

ancestry. He was awarded the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

for his debut novel in 1959, and the 1967

Jerusalem Prize The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Forum (previously kn ...

Biography

Schwarz-Bart's parents moved to France in 1924, a few years before he was born in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

. His first language was

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and he learned to speak French on the street and in public school. In 1941, after the fall of France and occupation by Nazi troops, his parents were deported to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. Soon after, Schwarz-Bart, still a young teen, joined the Resistance. His experiences as a Jew during the war later prompted him to write his debut work, ''Les derniers des justes'' (1959), published in English in 1960 as ''Last of the Just''. It chronicled Jewish history through the eyes of a wounded survivor and won the Prix Goncourt. He spent his final years in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

, with his wife, the novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart. Her parents were natives of the island. The two co-wrote the book ''Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes'' (1967). Some critics have suggested that his wife collaborated with him on ''A Woman Named Solitude''. The two were awarded the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde in 2008 for their lifetime of literary work. He is best known for his novel ''Le Dernier des justes'' (translated into English as '' The Last of the Just''). The book, which traces the story of a Jewish family from the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

to the

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Gener ...

, earned Schwarz-Bart the

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. He won the

in 1967. He died of complications after heart surgery in 2006. One of his two sons with his wife Simone Schwarz-Bart is Jacques Schwarz-Bart, a noted jazz saxophonist.

Bibliography

* (1959) ''Le Dernier des Justes''; published in English translation as '' The Last of the Just'' (1960) * (1967) ''Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes'', with Simone Schwarz-Bart. This work has not been published in English. A literal translation of the title would be "A plate of pork with green bananas". * (1972) '; published in English as ''A Woman Named Solitude'' (1973) * (1989) ''Hommage à la femme noire'' in collaboration with Simone Schwarz-Bart; published in English as ''In Praise of Black Women'' (2001) * (2009) ''L'étoile du matin''; published in English as ''The Morning Star'' (2011)

Notes

References

Hunter, Michelle (2000) ''Simone Schwarz-Bart''

External links

Obituary
''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'', 02 October 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz-Bart, Andre 1928 births 2006 deaths Writers from Metz 20th-century French Jews French people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists Jewish novelists Jewish French writers Jerusalem Prize recipients Prix Goncourt winners French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers