Bookstore Glossary Library Links News Publications Timeline Virtual Israel Experience
Anti-Semitism Biography History Holocaust Israel Israel Education Myths & Facts Politics Religion Travel US & Israel Vital Stats Women
donate subscribe Contact About Home

Jean Léon° Jaurès

JAURÈS, JEAN LÉON° (1859–1914), French Socialist politician. The *Dreyfus case brought him to the forefront of the political scene. At first Jaurès sided with the Socialists, who regarded the affair as a phase in the inner struggle of the ruling class. Later, however, brushing aside political expediency, he declared himself willing to "walk the darkened road which leads to justice." In association with Georges Clemenceau and Emile *Zola, Jaurès headed a national campaign for the rehabilitation of Dreyfus. He was shot in Paris by a fanatic on the eve of World War I (July 31, 1914). Jaurès had considerable influence on Léon *Blum, who regarded himself as his disciple, and on leaders of the Zionist labor movement, in particular Berl *Katzenelson.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

M. Auclair, La vie de Jean Jaurès (1954); H. Goldberg, Life of Jean Jaurès (1962), incl. bibl.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.