Valentin Feldman

Valentin Feldman (23 June 1909 – 27 July 1942) was a

Nazis during the Occupation of France

.

Born in

Lycée Henri IV and the Sorbonne University. A pupil of French philosopher Victor Basch, he worked on aesthetics

and wrote an essay, L'Esthétique française contemporaine (French contemporan aesthetic), Félix Alcan, 1936.

Involved in public activities as a teacher of philosophy, he supported as an antifascist the

Fall of France (May–June 1940).^[1]

Under the

Vichy regime and the Germans in the clandestine newspaper L'Avenir normand in Dieppe, and wrote several texts for the clandestine Parisian review La Pensée libre, supervised by Georges Politzer, Jacques Decour and Jacques Solomon

. Becoming part of the underground, he joined a group of communist Resistance in Rouen, where he participated in actions against the German occupiers.

Arrested in February 1942 after the sabotage of a factory, he was imprisoned and tortured. Judged in Paris, he was condemned to death by a German military tribunal. He refused to sign his appeal for a reprieve. Feldman was executed by a firing squad on 27 July 1942. Addressing the German soldiers just before the salvo, he called out to them: "Imbeciles, it is for you that I die! "[2]

His last words inspired numerous French writers: Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Aragon were among them.^[3] French-Swiss film-maker Jean-Luc Godard dedicated a short film to him, The Last Word (1988).

Essays :

L'Esthétique française contemporaine, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1936. (fr.)
Journal de guerre. 1940-1941, Tours, Farrago, 2006. (fr.)

Translations (from Russian to French) :

I.K. Luppol, Diderot. Ses idées philosophiques, Paris, Éditions sociales internationales, 1936. (fr.)
Nicolas Ostrovski, Et l’acier fut trempé..., préface de Romain Rolland, Paris, Éditions sociales internationales, 1937. (fr.)

References

^ Valentin Feldman, Journal de guerre, 1940-1941, Farrago, 2006, p. 175.
^ Valentin Feldman, Journal de guerre, 1940-1941, Farrago, 2006, p. 7.
^ Jean-Paul Sartre, Cahiers pour une morale, Gallimard, 1983, p. 212; Louis Aragon, L'Homme communiste, Gallimard, 1946, p. 42.

[1] Valentin Feldman, Journal de guerre, 1940-1941, Farrago, 2006, p. 175.

[2] Valentin Feldman, Journal de guerre, 1940-1941, Farrago, 2006, p. 7.

[3] Jean-Paul Sartre, Cahiers pour une morale, Gallimard, 1983, p. 212; Louis Aragon, L'Homme communiste, Gallimard, 1946, p. 42.

[1]

[3]

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