French philosopher André Glucksmann, who was born to Jewish parents from Eastern Europe and spent much of his adult life fighting against totalitarianism and supporting the rights of refugees and minority groups, died on Nov. 10. He was 78.
Glucksmann, whose experience surviving the Nazi occupation of France sparked his early involvement with the French Communist party, publicly disavowed Marxism in a 1975 book and went on to promote human rights in trouble spots around the world. He voiced support for Vietnamese “boat people,” supported Chechen Muslims during their civil war with the Russian government in the 1990s and backed U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Glucksmann wrote a 2004 column for the Israeli daily Haaretz, in which he criticized Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for urging French Jews to immigrate to Israel, advising the Israeli leader to “refrain from unnecessary panic.”