Maurice Najman (1948–1999) was a French

political journalist Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Political journ ...

during the late 1960s. He had a leftist political stance and mainly worked for ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' and '' Le Monde diplomatique''. He was one of the leading figures of the youth movement of 1968 and cofounded a leftist organization, Comités d’Action Lycéens (CAL), targeting high school students in 1967.

Biography

Najman was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1948. His parents were 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 ...

origin. His father was a communist militant His mother, Solange, was a survivor of

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 ...

. Her mother was

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

’s cousin. Najman was a member of the Revolutionary Marxist Alliance (AMR), a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

organization, in the 1970s. He contributed to ''Libération'', ''Le Monde diplomatique'' and ''L’Autre'' journal in which he published articles on

international politics International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. He died in Paris on 4 February 1999.

References

French political journalists 1948 births 1999 deaths 20th-century French journalists French male journalists French people of Polish-Jewish descent French Trotskyists Journalists from Paris {{France-journalist-stub