Jean Israël
Jean Israël · Heroes of Israel
Pilote de guerre du groupe 2/33, compagnon de Saint-Exupéry, dont le nom sert dans Pilote de guerre à dénoncer l'antisémitisme
5 décembre 1913, Paris, France — 16 décembre 1995, Paris, France
France et Algérie
Jean Israël is recognized among Israeli contributors to Heroes of Israel — Pilote de guerre du groupe 2/33, compagnon de Saint-Exupéry, dont le nom sert dans Pilote de guerre à dénoncer l'antisémitisme
Origins and early life
Jean Israël was born in the second arrondissement of Paris on 5 December 1913 and died in the twelfth on 16 December 1995. The sources call him a French Jewish pilot and record that he always acknowledged his Jewishness and defended that identity all his life. He graduated from the École centrale de Paris in 1936 and, after seeing Nazi rallies in Germany with his own eyes, joined military aviation before the war.
Work and career
From December 1939 he served in Groupe 2/33 alongside Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who wrote of him in Pilote de guerre in 1942 and made a point of naming him, a Jewish comrade in arms, at the very moment when French law was stripping Jews of their rights. He was shot down on 22 May 1940 and spent five years as a prisoner of war in Silesia and at Lübeck. After the war he worked in civil aviation with Air Algérie and Aérospatiale, and he founded associations devoted both to Jewish causes and to the study of Saint-Exupéry. He was an officer of the Legion of Honour and held the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with two citations.
Verify and go deeper with these external references.
Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Isra%C3%ABl
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Pilote de guerre du groupe 2/33, compagnon de Saint-Exupéry, dont le nom sert dans Pilote de guerre à dénoncer l'antisémitisme
Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Isra%C3%ABl