Jean-François Kahn (; 12 June 1938 – 22 January 2025) was a French journalist and essayist. Biography published on evene.fr

Life and career

Family

Jean-François Kahn was born in the commune of Viroflay in

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

, a former department of France, on 12 June 1938 to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

father and a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

mother. Kahn had two brothers, geneticist

Axel Kahn Axel Kahn (; 5 September 1944 – 6 July 2021) was a French geneticist. He was the brother of the journalist Jean-François Kahn and the chemist Olivier Kahn. He was a member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee from 1992 ...

and chemist Olivier Kahn who were raised by his mother as opposed to him, who was raised by his father, after his parents separated in 1954. His father, , was of Alsatian Jewish origin, from a family from Bliesbruck who settled in Nancy after the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870.
Un Type bien ne fait pas ça...: Morale, éthique et itinéraire personnel
',

, éditions Robert Laffont, 2012 (), . His father served as a teacher at the Godéchoux private school at the time. His mother, Camille Ferriot (1914-2005) was daughter of a small wood industrialist and an

antisemite Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

teacher of Swiss German origins.''Jean-François Kahn, l'électron libre'', a television documentary by Frank Eskenazi for the Empreintes collection,

France 5 France 5 () is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowl ...

, 2009"Images in the mind of Jean, a man out of time."
site ''axelkahn.fr'', July 6, 2017, accessed on January 10, 2020. His father died by suicide in 1970. Having obtained a degree in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, he started work at a postal sorting office, then at a printing works. He soon moved into journalism and was sent to cover the war in Algeria, undertaking the journalistic investigation that became known as the ‘ Ben Barka affair’. Kahn then worked as a reporter for '' Paris-Press'', ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' and

Europe 1 Europe 1, (''Europe un'') formerly known as Europe nº 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. It was owned and operated by Lagardère News, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it was one of the leading radio broadcasting s ...

. He later moved to ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' as special correspondent for

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. In 1977, he became editor of the compilation of the ‘Nouvelles Littéraires’ and in 1983, was named editor of '' Matin de Paris''. In 1984, he created '' L'Événement du Jeudi'' then in 1997, together with

Maurice Szafran Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city *Maurice, Louisiana, a village *Maurice River, a trib ...

, started the weekly magazine, ''

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

'', where he was the editor in chief until 2007. He often wrote under the pseudonym of François Darras or Serge Maury. Kahn took a clear position on many media subjects, including: *Denouncing

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

in 1995. *Denouncing the intervention of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in 1999. *Denouncing the American-led intervention in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in 2003. *He adopted a positive position on the

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...

in 2005 but denounced the failure of the press to provide a proper platform for those who opposed it. *In 2007, he actively supported UDF candidate

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...

for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. *In 2011, he dismissed the allegations of sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn as ''un troussage de domestique'' (literally, stripping or having casual, forced sex with a servant). He later apologised and resigned from journalism. Kahn also introduced the concept of Pensée unique.

Death

Kahn died on 22 January 2025, at the age 86 in

Avallon Avallon () is a commune in the Burgundian department of Yonne, in France. Name Avallon, Latin ''Aballō'', ablative ''Aballone'', is ultimately derived from Gaulish ''*Aballū'', oblique ''*Aballon-'' meaning "Apple-tree (place)" or "(plac ...

. He was buried in the cemetery of

Mussy-sur-Seine Mussy-sur-Seine (, literally ''Mussy on Seine'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Aube Departments of France, department in north-central France. Population See also *Communes of the Aube department References

Communes of ...

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

Partial bibliography

* “God, How They Hated Him!”
''Telos''
44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press. * ''La guerre civile'', Seuil, 1982 * ''Et si on essayait autre chose?'', Seuil, 1983 * ''Les Français sont formidables'', Balland, 1987 * ''Esquisse d'une philosophie du mensonge'', Flammarion, 1992 * ''Tout change parce que rien ne change'', Fayard, 1994 * ''On prend les mêmes et on recommence'', Grasset et Fasquelle, 1997 * ''Les poèmes politiques'', Fayard, 1998 * ''Tout était faux'', Fayard, 1998 * ''Demain la révolution'', Flammarion, 1999 * ''Chacun son tour'', Stock, 2000 * ''Complot contre la Démocratie'', Denoël, 2000 * ''La pensée unique'', Fayard, 2000 * ''Le retour de terre de Djid Andrew ; Critique de la raison capitaliste'', Fayard, 2000 * ''Victor Hugo un révolutionnaire ; L'extraordinaire Metamorphose'', Fayard 2001 * ''Moi, l'Autre et le loup'', Fayard, 2001 * ''Les Rebelles, ceux et celles qui ont dit non'', Plon, 2001 * ''Ce que Marianne en pense'', éditions des Mille et une nuits, 2002 * ''Le camp de la guerre, Critique de la déraison impure'', Fayard, 2004 * ''Dictionnaire incorrect'', Plon, 2005 * ''Comme deux frères – mémoire et visions croisées'' (avec

), Stock, 2006 * ''Les bullocrates'', Fayard, 2006

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Jean-Francois 1938 births 2025 deaths People from Yvelines 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French essayists French columnists French people of German-Jewish descent French male essayists 21st-century French journalists 21st-century French essayists French magazine founders