Pierre Goldman

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Pierre Goldman, (Lyon, June 22, 1944 – September 20, 1979 in Paris) was a French left-wing intellectual who was convicted of several robberies and assassinated mysteriously. It has been suspected that the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL) death squad was involved in his murder. His half-brother Jean-Jacques Goldman is a popular French singer.

1 Biography
2 September 20, 1979 assassination
3 Bibliography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Pierre Goldman was born near the end of World War II, the illegitimate son of Alter Mojze Goldman and Janine Sochaczewska, who were active in the French Resistance movement. Pierre Goldman, who admired his parents' behaviour during the war, went to Venezuela in 1968, where he spent a year in guerrilla activities. Returning to France in September 1969, he staged several robberies. In 1974, he was given a life-sentence by the Paris cour d'assises, after being convicted of a bloody robbery on December 19, 1969 in which two pharmacists were killed. He denied having committed this robbery, although he admitted to three earlier robberies. He was finally acquitted of the murders that took place during the December 19, 1969 robbery, but condemned to twelve years in prison for the other three robberies. During the five years he spent in prison, he studied philosophy and Spanish, and wrote a book on his own case "Souvenirs obscurs d'un juif polonais né en France". The impact of the book on some French intellectuals, plus many inconsistencies recorded during the investigation led to a second trial where he was acquitted for good. Afterward, he contributed to left-wing newspapers such as the Temps Modernes and Libération.

[edit] September 20, 1979 assassination

On September 20, 1979, he was assassinated at point-blank range. Eye-witnesses described three Spanish-looking persons. The police first suspected the Mafia, however the murder was revendicated to the AFP news agency in the name of an unknown far-right group, Honneur de la police (Honour of the Police).

The perpetrators of Pierre Goldman's murder haven't been found. Various theories exist. The most serious one points to Marseilles' criminal underground, which would have assassinated him on behalf of the GAL (Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación), a death squad set up by Spanish officials to fight ETA in the 1980s. Pierre Goldman allegedly was helping ETA get weapons and planned to create an organization to fight the GAL. On the other side, VSD magazine points out toward the French secret services. Pierre Goldman's funeral was followed by 15 000 persons.

In April 2006, Libération published an interview of former police officer Lucien Aimé-Blanc, who stated that one of his informants, Jean-Pierre Maïone, had admitted, a few years later, having killed Goldman on behalf of the GAL: "Marseille boys members of GAL killed him with Maïone, who also talked about a commandant, former member of the SDECE [French secret service], without revealing me his identity." ^[1]

A few hours after his death, his wife Christiane gave birth to a son, Manuel.

[edit] Bibliography

Souvenirs obscurs d'un juif polonais né en France, Le Seuil, 1975.
L'ordinaire mésaventure d'Archibald Rapoport (1977)

Books about him:

La vie rêvée de Pierre Goldman by Antoine Casubolo (2005, ISBN 2-35076-007-3)
Pierre Goldman, le frère de l'ombre by Michaël Prazan, (2005, ISBN 2-02-067895-0)
Matricule 518.941-2.87 : prison de Fresnes : correspondance d'un prévenu avec son professeur, Amnassar (2005, ISBN 2-35073-044-1)