Jean-Richard Bloch

Born in Paris to an assimilated Jewish family originally from Burgundy, Jean-Richard Bloch became interested in his Jewish heritage during the Dreyfus Affair. In 1907, Bloch graduated from the Sorbonne and began a career as a teacher and writer. He founded and edited L’Effort libre (1910–1914) with René Morichau-Beauchant and published his first novel, Lévy, in 1912. Bloch served in the French Army in World War I and was injured in the battles of the Marne and Verdun. After the Great War, he became a prolific novelist and playwright, and an active member of France’s Communist Party.