Sami al-Jundi (; 15 December 1921 – 14 December 1995) was a Syrian

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...

politician, and a follower of

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq (‎, ; 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he ...

Life

An older cousin of Abd al-Karim al-Jundi, Jundi was born to a scholarly family in

Salamiyah file:Hama qalat shmemis salamiyyah syria 1995.jpg, A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995) Salamiyah (; also transliterated ''Salamiyya'', ''Salamieh'' or ''Salamya'') is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate. It is ...

. He studied

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

, graduating in 1944. Initially attracted to

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

Zaki al-Arsuzi Zaki al-Arsuzi (; June 18992 July 1968) was a Syrian philosopher, philologist, sociologist, historian, and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement. He published several b ...

, he joined the Ba'ath Party of

and

Salah al-Din al-Bitar Salah al-Din al-Bitar (; 1 January 1912 – 21 July 1980) was a Syrian politician who co-founded the Ba'ath Party, Baʿath Party with Michel Aflaq in the early 1940s. As students in Paris in the early 1930s, the two formulated a doctrine t ...

in 1947. In the 1950s he joined

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

's Arab nationalist movement, and Nasser appointed him director of information and propaganda after Egypt and Syria merged as the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

in 1958. After the 1961 Syrian coup installed

Nazim al-Qudsi Nazim al-Qudsi (; 14 February 1906 – 6 February 1998), was a Syrian politician who served as the 14th president of Syria from 14 December 1961 to 8 March 1963. Early life and education Al-Qudsi was born in Aleppo on 14 February 1906. After gr ...

, Jundi lost his job, but after the 1963 Syrian coup he became minister of information in Salah al-Bitar's cabinet. He was also official spokesman for the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). The RCC named Jundi

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, delegating him to form a cabinet on 11 May 1963, but he failed to do so and resigned three days later. He was minister of information, culture and national guidance in Prime Minister Bitar's second cabinet, and remained in government under President Amin al-Hafez until October 1964. In 1964 he became ambassador to France. Jailed in Syria for some time in 1969, Jundi retired to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, writing his memoirs. After Israeli invaded Lebanon in 1982, he returned to Syria, but worked as a dentist and was not active politically. Jundi's account of the fate of the Ba'ath Party has been characterized as "an honest and sad portrayal of what has befallen many national anticolonial movements".

Works

* ''Arab wa Yahud'' rabs and Jews Beirut, 1968 * ''Sadiqi Ilyas'' y friend Ilyas Beirut, 1969 * ''Al Ba`th'' he Ba`th Beirut, 1969 * ''Athadda wa Attahim'' challenge and I accuse Beirut, 1969

Origins of the ''Ba'ath''

As a school student, al-Jundi attended political lectures of Arsuzi and became the secretary of a tiny group that called itself the Arab Resurrection (''Ba'ath'') Party. Of that period he wrote:

We lived through this hope, strangers in our society which gradually increased our isolation: rebels against all the old values, enemies to all the conventions of humanity, rejecting all ceremonies, relationships and religions. We sought the fight everywhere we were an unrelenting pickaxe. ... We were racialists ��irqiyyin admiring Nazism, reading its books and the source of its thought, particularly Nietzsche's ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', Fichte's ''Addresses to the German Nation'', and H. S. Chamberlain's ''Foundations of the Nineteenth Century'', which revolves on race. We were the first to think of translating ''Mein Kampf''. Whoever has lived during this period in Damascus will appreciate the inclination of the Arab people to Nazism, for Nazism was the power which could serve as its champion, and he who is defeated will by nature love the victor. But our belief was rather different. ...This ellipsis appears in Kedourie's translation. Nordbruch provides a fuller translation: "But we were a different school f thought Those who do not get deep into the principles of the Arab National Party – and these principles are the very principles of the Arab Ba‘th – might be misled bout the influence of Nazism" We were idealists, basing social relationships on love. The Master rsuziused to speak about Christ, and I think he was influenced by Nietzsche's ''The Origin of Tragedy''. He took the pre-Islamic period for his ideal, calling it the golden age of the Arabs.

Arsuzi's group disbanded in 1944, but most of the members belonged as well to

's group, also called the Ba'ath, that grew in the Syrian

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jundi, Sami al 1921 births 1995 deaths Damascus University alumni Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region Syrian Arab nationalists Syrian politicians Syrian socialists Greek Orthodox Christians from Syria Syrian dentists 20th-century dentists Prime ministers of Syria Ambassadors of Syria to France Ministers of culture of Syria Ministers of information of Syria