André Spire
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André Spire (born July 28, 1868 in Nancy, France; died 1966 in Paris, France) was a French poet, writer, and Zionist activist.
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[edit] Biography
Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Spire studied literature, then law. He attended the École libre des sciences politiques, now called the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Institut d'études politiques), or Sciences-Po, and later became a member of the Conseil d'État in 1894. A few months later, the Dreyfus Affair took place, in which a Jewish military officer was wrongly accused of treason, revealing how widespread antisemetism was at the time in France. Spire fought in a duel with a columnist from the Libre Parole (a nationalist and antisemitic newspaper run by Edouard Drumont) for alleging that the Conseil d'Etat was under the control of Jews. Spire's arm was wounded.
In 1896, he and a Catholic colleague founded the Société des Visiteurs, a philanthropic organization dedicated to helping workers who were dealing with unemployment, disease, or who had been in an accident. Shortly thereafter, he took part in the Cooperation des Idées, an attempt at a folk high school. There, he met Daniel Halévy, and the two men became friends. He left the Conseil d'Etat for the ministry of Labor, then joined the staff of Jean Dupuy, minister of Agriculture.
Disappointed with the response to his social activities, he took refuge in poetry, one of his main interests as a young man. He became friends with Charles Péguy and published Et vous riez ! in the Cahiers de la quinzaine. In 1902, he was commissioned by the Office du Travail (Labor Office) to lead an inquiry into the labor conditions of English workers. He was shocked by the Jewish ghetto in Whitechapel. In 1904, he was again deeply moved by a piece in the Cahiers de la quinzaine entitled "Had Gadya". Written by Israel Zangwill, it relates the story of a young atheist having to deal with the fact that he is Jewish. Spire finds interest in the zionist ideas of Théodore Herzl, but is affiliated with a territorialist group, the Jewish Territorial Organisation founded by Zangwill. In response, Charles Péguy refuses to publish his Poèmes juifs (Jewish Poems) in the Cahiers.
When World War I broke out, Spire had to take over the family owned factory, as he was unfit for the army. He was asked by the Ministry of Agriculture to come up with ideas on the reconstruction. He continued to write poetry (Et j'ai voulu la paix, 1916), as well as an essay on Jews and the War, Les Juifs et la Guerre, published in 1917. At the end of the war, he started the Ligue des Amis du Sionisme (League for the Companions of Zionism) then created the journal Palestine Nouvelle. In 1920, he was invited by Dr. Chaim Weizmann to visit Palestine. The work of the settlers made a great impression on him, inspiring him to write the poem Samaël ou le péché originel.
In 1940, he was forced to go into exile, and left for the United States, where he taught French Literature. In 1942, he joined the École Libre des Hautes Études in New York, a sort of university-in-exile for French academics, created by General De Gaulle's government and the exiled Belgian government. He was very active, and took part in many conferences set up by Jewish organizations. After the war, he went back to France, where he died at the age of 98. His funeral was led by Rabbi David Feuerwerker.
[edit] List of works
[edit] Poetry
- La Cité présente, 1903 ;
- Et vous riez !, 1905 ;
- Et j'ai voulu la paix !, 1916 ;
- Poèmes juifs, 1919 ;
- Samaël, 1921 ;
- Poèmes d'ici et de là-bas, 1944 ;
- Poèmes d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 1953 ;
- Poèmes juifs, 1959.
[edit] Prose
- Israel Zangwill, 1909 ;
- J'ai trois robes distinguées, 1910 ;
- Les Juifs et la guerre, 1917 ;
- Le Sionisme, 1918 ;
- Quelques Juifs et demi-Juifs, 1928 ;
- Plaisir poétique et plaisir musculaire, 1944.
