Benjamin Crémieux

• Honorific Prefix — Dr • Name — Benjamin Crémieux • Born — 1 December 1888 • Birthplace — Narbonne, France • Died — 14 April 1944 • Place of death — Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany • Education — Sorbonne, PhD, 1928 • Occupation — Writer, critic and historian

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'.:452

He fought in World War I during his obligatory military service in the French Army and was severely wounded during battle.:452 After the war he focused on studying Italian literature and history.:452

Crémieux contributed to a variety of literary magazines and journals, including La Gazette du Franc:270 and the influential literary journal Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF). He started writing for the NRF in 1920 and Jean Paulhan invited him to be a member of the journal's editorial committee as early as 1926.:22 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.:41 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.:139 He also served in a variety of service roles. He was 'chief of the Italian bureau of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs':41 and the permanent secretary of the French section of the PEN Club.:139 In 1940, Crémieux joined the French underground and became a leader of the Maquis.

In April 1943, two Gestapo agents detained Crémieux in Marseilles.:458 He was arrested, imprisoned, and deported to Nazi Germany, where, in April 1944 he was executed in the Buchenwald concentration camp.:458.