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A deeply personal, fictionalized account of one man's arrest for his work with the French Resistance during World War II describes his subsequent incarceration in Buchenwald concentration camp and his painful struggle to record his experiences.
Jorge Semprún was a Spanish writer, screenwriter and political figure, who fought for anti-Franco forces in Spanish Civil War and in French Resistance during World War II. He lived in France for the biggest part of his life and wrote primarily in French.
Background
Jorge Semprún was born on December 10, 1923, in Madrid, Spain. He was a son of José María Semprún Gurrea, a liberal politician and diplomat, and Susana Maura Gamazo, the youngest daughter of Antonio Maura, who was a Prime Minister of Spain on five separate occasions. Also, Jorge had a brother, Carlos Semprún, who was also a writer.
After the military uprising, headed by General Franco in July 1936, Jorge's family left for France, and then, moved to the Hague, where his father worked as an official, who represented the Republic of Spain in the Netherlands. In the beginning of 1939, when the Franco government was officially recognized by the Netherlands, the Semprún family returned to France as refugees.
Education
Jorge attended the Lycée Henri IV and the University of Paris (also known as the Sorbonne).
At the time, when France was occupied by Nazi, Jorge Semprún became a member of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans – Main-d'Œuvre Immigrée (FTP-MOI), a Resistance organization, which consisted mostly of immigrants. After joining the Spanish Communist Party in 1942 in France, Semprún was reassigned to the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the Communist armed Resistance. The following year, in 1943, Jorge was captured by Gestapo and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp for his actions in the Resistance. This experience was reflected in his two books — "Le grand voyage" (1963) and "Quel beau dimanche!" (1980).
In 1945, Jorge came back to France, where, during the period from 1952 till 1962, he was a member of Politburo of outlawed Spanish Communist Party (PCE). Also, during that time, he was an organizer of the PCE's clandestine activities in Spain, active under the pseudonym of Federico Sánchez. In 1956, Semprún was made a member of the party's executive committee. However, in 1964, he was expelled from the party for his changing political views. It was at that time, that Jorge focused on his writing skills. During his career, Jorge wrote numerous novels, plays, as well as screenplays.
In 1984, Semprún acted as a member of the jury at the 37th Cannes Film Festival. Between 1988 and 1991, he served as a Minister of Culture in Felipe González's second government. In 1996, Jorge was the first non-French author to be elected to the Académie Goncourt. In addition, he also held a post of an honorary chairman of the Spanish branch of Action Against Hunger, a global humanitarian organization, which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger.
For the most part of his life, Jorge lived and worked in Paris.
Jorge laboured for the Spanish Communist Party and was a leader of the Communist underground in 1950's Madrid.
Views
Semprún wrote primarily in French and alluded to French authors as much as to Spanish ones. Most of his books are fictionalized accounts of his deportation to Buchenwald. His writing is non-linear and achronological. The narrative setting shifts back and forth in time, exploring the past and future in relation to key events. With each recounting, events take on different meanings.
Semprún's body of work became one of the great testimonies of the horrors of the 20th century. His method is to take an event and then spring back to memories and then forward to the event's implications. Though fascinating because of their honesty and subject-matter, his novels suffer at times from over-reflection, slow plotting and baroque sentences.
Membership
Académie Goncourt
,
France
1996
Connections
In 1949, Jorge married Loleh Bellon, an actress and playwright. Their marriage produced one son, named Jaime Semprún, who was a writer. Later, in 1958, Semprún married his second wife, Colette Leloup, who was a film executive and editor-in-chief. The couple gave birth to five children — Dominique Semprún, Ricardo Semprún, Lourdes Semprún, Juan Semprún and Pablo Semprún. Colette died in 2007.
After the death of his second wife, Jorge married his third wife, whose name is unknown.
Father:
José María Semprún Gurrea
Mother:
Susana Maura Gamazo
child:
Jaime Semprún
child:
Dominique Semprún
child:
Ricardo Semprún
child:
Lourdes Semprún
child:
Juan Semprún
child:
Pablo Semprún
Grandfather:
Antonio Maura
ex-wife:
Loleh Bellon
ex-wife:
Colette Leloup
Brother:
Carlos Semprún
References
Exile, Writer, Soldier, Spy: Jorge Semprún
In this gripping, authoritative biography, Soledad Fox Maura reveals the tumultuous true-life story of the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, responsible for "Z" and "The War Is Over".
2018
A Critical Companion to Jorge Semprún: Buchenwald, Before and After
Presenting the first English-language collection of essays on Jorge Semprún, this volume explores the life and work of the Spanish Holocaust survivor, author and political activist. Essays explore his cultural production in all its manifestations, including the role of testimony and fiction in representations of the Holocaust.