Albert Memmi

Albert Memmi was born in 1920 in Tunisia, when it was a French protectorate. He grew up speaking Tunisia-Judeo-Arabic and French, and went on to be educated at the University of Algiers and the Sorbonne in Paris. During the Second World War, he was imprisoned in a forced labour camp which he later escaped from. A supporter of Tunisian independence in the post war, he left the country for France after independence citing increasing marginalisation due both to his French education and Jewish identity. He published several widely acclaimed novels as well as major works on racism and Judaism. He died in France in 2020.