Lanzmann, Claude

(November 27, 1925, Bois-Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine, France - )

   The son of a decorator father and an antique dealer mother (both Jewish), he had to hide with his younger brother, future writer Jacques Lanzmann (1927-2006), and sister, future actress Evelyne Rey (1930-1966), during the occupation of France. He joined the French Resistance (he was already a par­tisan) in 1943. At the end of World War II, he moved to Tubingen, Germany, where he studied philosophy (1947). After his graduation, he became a journalist. In 1952, he met Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. He still runs the review they co-founded (Les Temps modernes). He co-wrote the screenplay and the adaptation of Elise ou la vraie Vie (Michel Drach, 1970). He appeared as himself in several documenta­ries (1988 Hôtel Terminus / Hôtel Terminus: Klaus Barbie, sa Vie et son Temps / Hotel Terminus—Leben und Zeit von Klaus Barbie / Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, documentary, Marcel Ophuls, France / West Germany / UK; 2001 Autopsie d'un Mensonge— Le Négationnisme, documentary, as himself, Jacques Tarnero; 2008 Simone de Beauvoir, une Femme actuelle, documentary, Dominique Gros).

 Filmography

1973 ◘ Pourquoi israël? / USA: israel, Why? (documentary; Italy / France)

1985 ◘ Shoah (documentary; also actor as himself)

1994 ◘ Tsahal (documentary; also screenwriter)

1997 ◘ Un Vivant qui passe / USA: A Visitor from the Liv­ing (documentary; also producer, interviewer; France / Germany) 2001 Sobibor, 14 Octobre 1943, 16 Heures / Sobibor (documentary; also screenwriter, voice as interviewer)