In memoriam a departed friend: Maurice POLITI

by Albert MEMMI

Our friend Maurice POLITI, a member of the Board of our Association, left us on March 3, 1993.

Born on September 21, 1925, in Athens, he committed himself resolutely to the Resistance, alongside his law studies.

Like many writers, his work expresses his life: Les faubourgs d’Athènes (The Outskirts of Athens), published by Gallimard, recounts his adolescent years.

He reached Israel in 1950, living for a long time under canvas on the shore of the Sea of Galilee before leaving Kibbutz Degania. When he left the kibbutz, he carried away with him a manuscript, Les évadés du Paradis (The Escapees from Paradise).

He would henceforth be a journalist in Tel Aviv, a theater critic, a translator, and even a playwright with Maayana, which had the honor of being staged by the Habima national theater.

After a stay in Benin as Press Adviser to the local government, he returned to Israel as editor-in-chief of the Journal d’Israël, and was a correspondent for the AFP [Agence France-Presse] until 1989, when he retired.

In him we have lost an active and judicious member of our Association, a devoted militant, and a friend.