Benjamin Crémieux
Benjamin Crémieux (1888–1944) was a French author, critic and literary historian. Early life. Crémieux was born to a Jewish family in Narbonne, France in 1888. His family had long ties in the region, having 'settled in France as early as the 14th century'. Military service. During his obligatory military service he served in the French Army. He fought in World War I and was severely wounded during battle. After the war he focused on studying Italian literature and history. Career. Crémieux contributed to a variety of literary magazines and journals, including La Gazette du Franc, and the influential  literary journal Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF). He started writing for the NRF in 1920, and, as early as 1926, Jean Paulhan invited him to be a member of the journal's editorial committee. In 1928 he defended his doctoral thesis "Essai Sur l'évolution littéraire de l'Italie de 1870 á nos jours" at the Sorbonne, which was published later that year. He published one of his most important texts in 1931, "Inquiétude et Reconstruction," which provided a survey of French literature since the turn of the century. He also served in a variety of service roles. He was 'chief of the  Italian bureau of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs' and the permanent secretary of the French section of PEN Club. In 1940, Crémieux joined the French underground and became a leader of the "Maquis". Death. In April 1943, two Gestapo agents detained Crémieux in Marseilles. He was arrested, imprisoned, and deported to Nazi Germany, where, in April 1944 he was executed in the Buchenwald concentration camp. Legacy. Crémieux introduced a number of important literary figures for the French public through his translations, including Luigi Pirandello and Italo Svevo; he was also an early champion of the works of Marcel Proust