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Jean Daniel Bensaid (21 July 1920 – 19 February 2020) was a French journalist and author. He was the founder and executive editor of '' Le Nouvel Observateur'' weekly now known as ''L'Obs''.


Life and career

Daniel was born in Blida, Algeria, as the youngest of 11 children. His father, Jules Bensaid, was a flour miller. Jean Daniel attended the University of Algiers before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. During the war, he was part of a resistance group that aided the liberation of Algiers, and he participated in the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
as part of the
Free French Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...
forces led by Philippe Leclerc. Following the war, Daniel attended
Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...
(studying philosophy) and worked for Félix Gouin as a speechwriter. Daniel was a Jewish
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
in the tradition of the French Left. He was a colleague and friend of
Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...
, a fellow
pied-noir The (; ; : ) are an ethno-cultural group of people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French colonial rule from 1830 to 1962. Many of them departed for mainland France during and after the ...
(French-Algerian). In ''La prison juive: Humeurs et méditations d'un témoin'' (''The Jewish Prison''), Daniel argued that prosperous, assimilated Jews in the west live in a self-imposed prison made of up of three invisible walls: the idea of the
Chosen People Throughout history, various groups of people have considered themselves to be the chosen people of a deity, for a particular purpose. The phenomenon of "chosen people" is well known among the Israelites and Jews, where the term () refers to the ...
,
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
remembrance, and support for Israel. "Having trapped themselves inside these walls...," wrote Adam Shatz in describing the book, "they were less able to see themselves clearly, or to appreciate the suffering of others -- particularly the Palestinians living behind the ' separation fence'." Daniel was a member of the Saint-Simon Foundation
think-tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
. His first life partner was the Corsican writer Marie Susini. He later married Michèle Bancilhon, with whom he had one daughter, the journalist .


Journalism

In 1947 Daniel co-founded the ''Caliban'' magazine, which ran until 1951. Following it closure Daniel became a teacher, until he was hired as a reporter by ''L'Express'' in 1956. Daniel covered the
Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...
for ''L'Express''; he was sympathetic to the independence cause and received death threats from the
Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Army Organisation") was a far-right dissident French paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War, founded in 1961 by Raoul Salan, Pierre Lagaillarde and Jean-Jacques S ...
(OAS). He was interviewing
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
in Havana as news came through of the
assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...
. Castro said "es una mala noticia" ("this is bad news"), perceiving that he would be blamed in some quarters for the assassination. Kennedy had given Daniel a message to pass to Castro, which said that the U.S. could respect a "nationalist, even communist" government of Cuba, but could not relate to a country that was "indentured" to the Soviet Union. He co-founded the French magazine ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' in 1964, which had existed since 1950 as ''L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire'' (1950–53), ''L'Observateur aujourd'hui'' (1953–54) and ''France Observateur'' (1954–64). The 1964 incarnation of the magazine was when Jean Daniel and Claude Perdriel took over renaming the magazine and starting its best known phase under the name ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' as a weekly. Since then it has been published by Groupe Nouvel Observateur on a weekly basis and has covered political, business and economic news in France and internationally. On 23 October 2014, the magazine was renamed '' L'Obs''.


Published works


Books

*''The Jewish Prison: a Rebellious Meditation on the State of Judaism'' translated into English by Charlotte Mandell, 2005, Melville House Publishing, USA


Articles

* "We Already Miss His Vigilance" ''
Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of human art. ''Telos'' is the root of the modern term teleology, the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, ...
'' 44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Jean 1920 births 2020 deaths Algerian Jews University of Algiers alumni University of Paris alumni Pieds-noirs People from Blida French people of Algerian-Jewish descent French male journalists French war correspondents French magazine founders Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite French male non-fiction writers French agnostics