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Crémieux, Jean-Louis

Person | 22 janvier 1917 - 8 avril 2015 Identifier: FRAN_NP_052437
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France
Archives nationales

Date of birth:

22 janvier 1917

Date of death:

8 avril 2015

Alternative names:

Brilhac, Jean

Crémieux-Brilhac, Jean-Louis (1917-2015)

PLACE

Place:

Aisne

Aisne (Picardie , département)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Allemagne

Allemagne

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Angleterre

Angleterre (Royaume-Uni)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Caen

Caen (Calvados)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Colombes

Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Kaunas

Kaunas (Lituanie)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Lituanie

Lituanie

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Londres

Londres (Royaume-Uni)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Longuyon

Longuyon (Meurthe-et-Moselle)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Longwy

Longwy (Meurthe-et-Moselle)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Marne

Marne (cours d'eau)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Meurthe-et-Moselle

Meurthe-et-Moselle (Lorraine , département)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Paris

Paris (France)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

Rennes

Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

Place:

URSS

URSS (1922-1991)

Role of the place:

Lieu général

OCCUPATION

Occupation:

historien

Occupation:

membre de cabinet ministériel

Occupation:

résistant

BIOGRAPHY

Biography:

Jean-Louis Crémieux, dit Crémieux-Brilhac, est né le 22 janvier 1917 à Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine).

Issu d’une famille juive démocrate et humaniste qui compte en ses rangs le critique littéraire et écrivain Benjamin Crémieux (1888-1944), Jean-Louis Crémieux est élève au lycée Condorcet, puis étudiant en lettres et en histoire à la Sorbonne. Mobilisé en septembre 1939 et promu aspirant en janvier 1940, il est affecté en mai 1940 à l’extrémité de la ligne Maginot, entre Longwy et Longuyon. Défendant le passage de la Marne, il est fait prisonnier le 11 juin 1940 dans l’Aisne et envoyé en captivité en Poméranie, à l’Oflag II D, puis au Stalag II B.

Il parvient à s’en évader le 4 janvier 1941 avec son camarade Pierre Joriot et passe la frontière germano-lituanienne le 6 janvier, avant d’être arrêté par des soldats russes et conduit dans les prisons de Kaunas, Loubianka, Bourtiki, puis au camp de Kozielsk. Après l’invasion de l’URSS le 22 juin 1941, Jean-Louis Crémieux fait partie, avec Pierre Billotte, Alain de Boissieu ou Louis Mitelberg – dessinateur bientôt célèbre sous le pseudonyme de Tim –, des 186 évadés français qui demandent à rallier Londres et s’embarquent en août 1941 en mer Blanche sur l’ Empress of Canada.

Le 9 septembre 1941, il s’engage dans les Forces françaises libres (FFL) et devient Jean Brilhac, du nom de la rue qui l’a abrité à Rennes au printemps 1940 avec son épouse Monique. Il rejoint le Commissariat à l’Intérieur et se voit chargé en janvier 1942 de mettre sur pied un centre de documentation politique sur la France. Il crée aussi avec Angeline de Kerguelen, au printemps 1942, un service d’écoutes radiophoniques, afin d’enregistrer les émissions de Paris, Vichy, Alger, Brazzaville et Moscou en français. En avril 1942, il est désigné secrétaire du Comité exécutif de propagande tout juste constitué, avant de se consacrer à la liaison documentaire et politique avec la résistance intérieure, comme chef du Service de diffusion clandestine en France. En 1944, il occupe également les fonctions d’officier de liaison de la France libre auprès de la BBC.

Après la libération de Paris, par l'entremise de Jean-Jacques Mayoux, délégué à l’Information pour la zone Nord, Jean Brilhac est mis en contact avec Marcel Koch, créateur à Alger, dès la fin 1942, d’un service de documentation et d’étude, et porteur d’une conception neuve de la documentation d’État. Tous deux sont à l’origine de la Documentation française, dont Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac devient tour à tour sous-directeur, directeur-adjoint puis directeur, de 1969 à 1982.

Une autre ligne de force de son parcours concerne la politique scientifique française, qu’il s’attache à moderniser dans les années cinquante aux côtés de Pierre Mendès France, dont il est le proche conseiller. Organisateur en 1956 et 1966 des colloques de Caen sur l’enseignement supérieur et la recherche, il est l’animateur, avec Jacques Monod et André Lichnerowicz, du Mouvement pour l’expansion de la recherche scientifique.

Conseiller d’État de 1982 à 1986, Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac se voue, la retraite venue, à l’écriture de l’histoire, qui l’a toujours passionné, enchaînant les ouvrages de référence, parmi lesquels Les Français de l’an 40 (1990), La France libre (1996) ou Prisonniers de la liberté : l’odyssée des 218 évadés par l’URSS (2004). Il consacre en 2010 une biographie à son ami Georges Boris, compagnon au long cours depuis Londres, et travaille jusqu’à son dernier souffle, amassant en vue d’un nouveau livre d’importants matériaux sur la France libre et les Juifs et préparant le récit posthume de deux moments intenses de son existence : la défaite de 1940 et l’espoir porté par la France libre.

Celui qui dans un courrier se définissait avec modestie comme « ancien membre des FFL, ancien directeur de la Documentation française, devenu historien sur le tard » est décédé à Paris le 8 avril 2015.


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