Jean Daniel

Born in Blida, Algeria, journalist Jean Daniel (born Jean Daniel Bensaïd) moved to France in his youth. As a teenager, he came under the influence of André Gide and the writer’s admiration for the Soviet Union. Gide’s subsequent disillusionment with Soviet communism deeply affected the young Daniel, initiating his turn toward socialism and eventually toward the center-left. During World War II, Daniel fought in the Algerian resistance, then with the armies of Giraud and Leclerc in North Africa, and finally in France. Like so many other French intellectuals, his politics as well as his personal life were colored by the Franco-Algerian War. Daniel founded Le Nouvel observateur in 1964.