Henri Curiel

Henri Curiel (September 13, 1914 – May 4, 1978) was a left-wing political activist. Born in Egypt, Curiel led the communist Democratic Movement for National Liberation until he was expelled from the country in 1950. Settling in France, Curiel aided the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale and other national liberation causes. In 1978 Curiel was assassinated in Paris; his murderer has never been identified.

Biography

Egypt

Born in Cairo to a Jewish family of Italian origins, he was the cousin of Eugenio Curiel, a physicist and anti-fascist militant who was murdered in Italy in 1945. His brother Raoul Curiel was a greatly admired archeologist and numismatist, specialized in Central Asian studies. His son is the French journalist Alain Gresh. Curiel was also a cousin of the famous British KGB spy George Blake, who later said that his encounter with Curiel as a teenager (when Curiel was older and already a communist) shaped his political views.

In 1943 Curiel founded the communist Egyptian Movement for National Liberation (HAMETU) الحركه المصريه للتحرر الوطني حمتو, which in 1947 became the Democratic Movement for National Liberation (HADETU). He was repeatedly arrested along with many other communists and, despite his Egyptian citizenship, forced to emigrate in 1950. The Democratic Movement for National Liberation was an active participant in the 1952 revolution led by the free officers and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolutionary council and the free officers had many members from HADETU; the most eminent of these were Khaled Mohy el din خالد محي الدين, Yousef Sedeek يوسف صديق and Ahmed Hamroush احمد حمروش . Curiel established himself in France and led a circle of Jewish communist emigres from Egypt known as the "Rome Group".