Henri CURIEL
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Political activist, founder of the Egyptian Communist Party.
Henri Curiel, born in Cairo into a wealthy Jewish family, broke early with his background and founded in 1943 the movement from which Egyptian communism would emerge. Expelled in 1950, he settled in Paris, organised the network that carried funds and papers to the FLN, and paid for it with several years of internment. He then created Solidarité, to help those working underground in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Chile.
The story
Born in Cairo on 13 September 1914 into a wealthy Jewish banking family of Italian origin, Henri Curiel broke early with his own milieu. He opened a bookshop, worked underground and in 1943 founded the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation, the seedbed of Egyptian communism.
Expelled from Egypt in 1950, he settled in Paris. The Algerian war made him one of the organisers of the Jeanson network, the “suitcase carriers” who moved money and papers for the FLN, the Algerian independence front: it cost him several years of internment.
Once free, he founded “Solidarité”, which gave help to underground militants in Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, the Greece of the colonels and Pinochet's Chile. The principle never varied: help those whose own state hunts them, without taking up their cause.
In the 1970s he worked as a discreet go-between for Israelis and Palestinians, arranging meetings the diplomats still refused. That activity earned him, in the French press, the charge of running a support network for terrorism.
On 4 May 1978 he was shot dead in Paris as he stepped out of the lift in his building. The investigation never came to anything. He lies in Division 1, avenue Principale, second row, under a stone that calls him “tombé dans la lutte pour le socialisme et la paix” — fallen in the struggle for socialism and peace.
The grave
A stone grave whose inscription tells at once the birth, the murder and the motive: “Henri CURIEL, born on 13 September 1914, in CAIRO, assassinated on 4 May 1978, in PARIS. Fallen in the struggle for Socialism and Peace, to which he had devoted his life.” Few graves in the cemetery name the crime that filled them in this way: the wording was chosen by his family and friends, when the investigation had barely begun.
On site, do not miss
The inscription, rare at Père-Lachaise, names the crime: “assassinated on 4 May 1978, in PARIS”, followed by the cause to which he had devoted his life. Division 1 is the first on the right past the main entrance.
Visitors' questions
Where is Henri Curiel's grave?
In Division 1, avenue Principale, second row — the cemetery's first Division, just past the main entrance. The activist (1914-1978) rests beneath a stone whose inscription names his murder.
Clotilde de VauxWho was Henri Curiel?
A communist activist born in Cairo in 1914, founder of the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation in 1943 and later, from Paris, the organiser of support networks for decolonisation movements and for resistance to dictatorships.
Jacques DuclosWas Henri Curiel's murder ever solved?
No. Shot dead on 4 May 1978 in the lobby of his Paris apartment building, he remains without an identified killer despite several investigations, which pointed variously towards foreign secret services and the far right.
Malik OussekineWhat part did Henri Curiel play in the Algerian War?
He was one of the organisers of the Jeanson network, the “suitcase carriers” who ferried funds and false papers for the FLN. Arrested, he spent several years interned by the French authorities.
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