Roger Garaudy (; 17 July 1913 – 13 June 2012) was a French philosopher,

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 ...

fighter and a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

author. He converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

in 1982. In 1998, he was convicted and fined for

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

under French law for claiming that the death of six million Jews was a "myth".

Early life and education

Roger Garaudy was born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parents. At the age of 14, Garaudy converted to

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. He fought during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and received the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. After a period as a

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its t ...

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

in Algeria, Garaudy joined 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 ...

working for resistance radio and the newspaper ''Liberté''.

Political career

Garaudy joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...

in 1933. By mid 1940s, Garaudy was considered a leading

polemicist Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

within the party. He rose through the ranks and in 1945 he became a member of the party's leadership and its Central Executive Committee, where he occupied positions for 28 years. As a political candidate, he succeeded in being elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

and eventually rose to the position of deputy speaker, and later senator. Garaudy remained a Christian and eventually re-converted to Catholicism during his political career. Eventually he converted to Islam. He was befriended by one of France's most prominent clerics of the time, the

Abbé Pierre Abbé Pierre, OFM Cap, (born Henri Marie Joseph Grouès; 5 August 191222 January 2007) was a French Catholic priest, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement (MRP). In 1949, he founded the ...

, who in later years supported Garaudy, even regarding the latter's most controversial views. Garaudy was expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, because he had criticized the party's position on the student movement and the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

. His philosophical and political views were characterized as revisionist by Soviet commentators. He had, however, accepted the invasion of Hungary in 1956.

Academic career

He obtained a state doctorate in philosophy in 1953, with a dissertation discussing

theory of knowledge Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Ep ...

and

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

, entitled ''La théorie matérialiste de la connaissance''. In May 1954, Garaudy defended another doctoral thesis, ''The Problem of Freedom and Necessity in the Light of Marxism'', at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. Garaudy lectured in the faculty of arts department of the University of Clermont-Ferrand from 1962–1965. Due to controversies between Garaudy and

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

, Garaudy left. He later taught in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

from 1969–1972. His main research subject was foundations of revolutionary politics.

Political and philosophical views

As of 1940s, Garaudy was critical of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

's view of freedom, maintaining that it lacks any social, economic, political or historical context. He criticized ''

Being and Nothingness ''Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology'' (french: L'Être et le néant : Essai d'ontologie phénoménologique), sometimes published with the subtitle ''A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology'', is a 1943 book by the philosoph ...

'' for what he deemed not going beyond the domain of metaphysical pathology, and Sartre's novels for "depicting only degenerates and human wrecks" and describing his existentialism as "a sickness". Garaudy's faith in communism was shaken in 1956, after

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

made the Secret Speech at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Afterwards, he espoused an

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

and

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

view on Marxism, strictly opposing the theoretical Marxism of

Louis Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser ...

and advocating dialogue with other schools of thought. In 1974, Frederic Will described him as sympathetic towards

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philo ...

and

Gabriel Marcel Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889 – 8 October 1973) was a French philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist. The author of over a dozen books and at least thirty plays, Marcel's work focused on the mode ...

. He held that the Western culture was something of a coalition between the idealistic philosophy and the elite class, which is devoted to turning man away from the material world. The goal of

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

in his view was not simply economic or providing social justice, but also giving each individual their personal chances for creativity.

Conversion to Islam

Around 1980, Garaudy read '' The Green Book'' by

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

and became interested in Libya and

, meeting the country's leader on several occasions in the desert. He converted formally at the Islamic Centre in Geneva, an organisation controlled by the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( '), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic studies, Islamic scholar and scho ...

. Garaudy converted in 1982 after marrying a Palestinian woman, later writing that "The Christ of Paul is not the Jesus of the Bible," and also forming other critical scholarly conclusions regarding the

Old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

and

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

s. He became an Islamic commentator and supporter of the Palestinian cause. In ''The Case of Israel: A Study of Political Zionism'' (1983), Garaudy portrays

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

as an

isolationist Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entan ...

and

segregationist Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Interna ...

ideology that is not only dependent on

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

to nourish, but also willfully encourages it to achieve its goals.

Holocaust denial

Conviction of violating Gayssot Act

In 1996, Garaudy published, with his editor Pierre Guillaume, the work ''Les Mythes fondateurs de la politique israelienne'' (literally, ''The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics''), later translated into English as '' The Founding Myths of Modern Israel''. In the book he wrote of "the myth of the six million" Jewish victims of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Because of this breach of French law concerning Holocaust denial, the courts banned any further publication and on 27 February 1998 fined Garaudy 120,000

French francs The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

. He was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of several years. Garaudy appealed this decision to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

, but his appeal was rejected as inadmissible. At his hearing, Garaudy stated that his book in no way condoned

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

methods, and that book was an attack on the mythologizing and use of "the holocaust" by Israeli government as policy. He argued that his book dealt with the Israeli government's use of "the holocaust" as a "justifying dogma" for its actions, mainly in Palestine and toward Palestinians.

''Garaudy v. France''

Garaudy challenged the French ruling and appealed to the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

(ECHR), stating that his book was a political work criticizing the policies of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

that did not deny that the Nazis had committed crimes against humanity, and that his freedom of expression was interfered by the French courts. The ECHR disagreed and ruled that Garaudy has denied historical facts in his book which is not a research work. It also argued that the interference pursued two of the legitimate aims included in Gayssot Act articles and is not a violation of Garaudy's right for free speech. The ECHR did not use this rationale in '' Perinçek v. Switzerland''.

Iranian support

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, 160 members of the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and 600 journalists signed a petition in Garaudy's support. On 20 April 1998, Iran's Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from Arabic word ...

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia '' marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third presiden ...

met Garaudy. Khamenei was critical of the West which, he said, condemned "the racist behavior of the Nazis" while accepting the

Zionists Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jew ...

’ "Nazi-like behavior." Iranian president,

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...

, insisted in a sermon delivered on Iranian radio that Hitler "only killed 20,000 Jews and not six million" and that "Garaudy's crime derives from the doubt he cast on Zionist propaganda." Iranian President,

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 ...

, described Garaudy in 1998 as "a thinker" and "a believer" who was brought to trial merely for publishing research which was "displeasing to the West." In December 2006, Garaudy was unable to attend the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Tehran, Iran owing to ill health. He reportedly sent a videotaped message supporting Iranian President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

's view that Israel should cease to exist.

Death and legacy

Roger Garaudy died in

Chennevières-sur-Marne Chennevières-sur-Marne (, literally ''Chennevières on Marne'') is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History People have lived on the site of Chennevières-sur-Marne since pre-hist ...

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

, on Wednesday 13 June 2012, aged 98. According to

Azzam Tamimi Azzam Tamimi (sometimes spelled Azam Tamimi; born 1955, Hebron, West Bank) is a British-Palestinian Jordanian academic and political activist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He is currently a freelance presenter at Alhiwar TV Channel. He ...

, Tunisian thinker

Rached Ghannouchi Rached Ghannouchi ( ar, راشد الغنوشي, Rāshid al-Ghannūshī; born 22 June 1941), also spelled Rachid al-Ghannouchi or Rached el-Ghannouchi, is a Tunisian politician, the co-founder of the Ennahdha Party and serving as its intelle ...

was inspired by Garaudy in the early 1980s, after he read a translation of his book on women. He subsequently authored a treatise on women rights and on the status of women in the Islamic movement, partly influenced by Garaudy's work.

Awards and honours

Luc Cédelle
"Roger Garaudy : mort d'une figure du négationnisme"
''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', 15 June 2012. Retrieved 2012. * Médaille de la déportation et de l'internement pour faits de Résistance * King Faisal International Prize for Services to Islam (1986), jointly with Ahmed Deedat * Prix Kadhafi des droits de l'homme (2002)

Bibliography

Books by Garaudy

The author of more than 70 books,"DISPARITION DE ROGER GARAUDY, DE STALINE À MAHOMET"
''L'Humanité'' some his translated works include: *
Literature of the Graveyard: Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mauriac, André Malraux, Arthur Koestler
', New York, International Publishers, 1948. *
Marxism and Religion
', Australian Left Review, 1949. * ''Science and Faith in Teilhard de Chardin'', in collaboration with Claude Cuenot, Garnstone Press, 1967. *
Karl Marx: The Evolution of his Thought
', International Publishers, 1967, Greenwood Press, 1967, Lawrence & Wishart, 1967. * ''From Anathema to Dialogue: The Challenge of Marxist-Christian Cooperation'', Collins, 1967. * ''From Anathema to Dialogue: A Marxist Challenge to the Christian Churches'', Vintage, 1968. *
A Christian-Communist Dialogue: Exploration for Co-operation between a Marxist and a Christian
', in collaboration with Quentin Lauer, S.J., New York: Doubleday, 1968. *
Marxism in the Twentieth Century
', HarperCollins Distribution Services, 1970, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970, Collins, 1970. * ''The Crisis in Communism: The Turning Point of Socialism'', Grove Press, 1970. *
The Turning Point of Socialism
', New York: HarperCollins Distribution Services, 1970, London: Fontana, 1970. * ''Socialism's Unanswered Questions: Europe 1968'', Sydney, Australian Left Review, 1970. *
The Whole Truth
', Fontana, 1971. *
The Alternative Future: A Vision of Christian Marxism
', Simon & Schuster, 1974. *
God, Marx, and the Future: Dialogue with Roger Garaudy
', in collaboration with Russell Bradner Norris, Fortress Press, c. 1974. *
Karl Marx: Evolution of his Thought
', Greenwood Press, 1976, Praeger, 1977, ABC-CLIO, 1977. * ''The Case of Israel: A Study of Political Zionism'', Shorouk International, 1983. * ''Mosquée, miroir de l'Islam, The Mosque, Mirror of Islam'', Editions du Jaguar, 1985. *
The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics
', published by Aaargh, 1996. * ''The Mythical Foundations of Israeli Policy'', Studies Forum International, 1997.

Books and theses about Garaudy

* André Dupleix, ''Le Socialisme de Roger Garaudy et le problème religieux'', Toulouse: Privat, 1971. * Michael B. Hughes
The Christian-Marxist Dialogue as Reflected in the Thought of Josef L. Hromadka and Roger Garaudy
M.A. thesis,

Kansas State Teachers College Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...

of Emporia, 1970 * Charles Joseph McClain, Jr.
From Ideology to Utopia: The Marxist Careers of Ernst Fischer and Roger Garaudy
Ph.D. thesis,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, 1972 * Serge Perottino, ''Roger Garaudy et le marxisme du XXe siècle'', Paris: Seghers, 1969 (Philosophes de tous les temps) * Michaël Prazan and Adrien Minard, ''Roger Garaudy, itinéraire d'une négation'', Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 2007 * Julian Spencer Roche
Marxism and Christianity: Taking Roger Garaudy's Project Seriously
thesis, Edinburgh Research Archive,

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

, 2021

Articles about Garaudy

* Maurice Cranston, "The Thought of Roger Garaudy," ''Problems of Communism,'' vol. 19, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1970), pp. 11–18.

References

External links

Full text books by Roger Garaudy
on Persée, Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation
Roger Garaudy research papers
academia.edu

at

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

* Bernard Schmid
Der politisch-ideologische Werdegang des Roger Garaudy. Oder: Die schrittweise Zerstörung der Vernunft
(German text) * Goetz Nordbruch

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, 2005 * Julian Spencer Roche, '' ttps://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1842/38010/Roche2021.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Marxism and Christianity: taking Roger Garaudy’s project seriously',

, 2021 (Ph.D. thesis) {{DEFAULTSORT:Garaudy, Roger 1913 births 2012 deaths 20th-century French philosophers 21st-century French writers Anti-Zionism in France Communist members of the French Resistance Converts to Protestantism from Catholicism Converts to Sunni Islam from Protestantism Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Former Marxists French Communist Party politicians French former Christians French Holocaust deniers French male writers French Muslims French political philosophers French prisoners of war in World War II French Senators of the Fifth Republic Marxist theorists Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) People convicted of Holocaust denial Writers from Marseille Politicians from Marseille Prix des Deux Magots winners Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Member of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco Senators of Seine (department) University of Poitiers faculty World War II prisoners of war held by Vichy France