KRIEGEL, ANNIE

KRIEGEL, ANNIE (1926–1995), French sociologist and historian of communism, socialism, and workers' movements. Kriegel was born in Paris. From 1944, she was a leader of the underground Jewish Communist Youth in the region of Grenoble and after the war she was an official of the French Communist Party active among Parisian intellectuals until her break with the party in 1956. She was professor and head of the department of sociology at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. She made her name with her writings on the history of communism, socialism, and workers' movements. She also studied the situation of Judaism and the Jews in the modern period, and published a number of pro-Zionist essays ideologically oriented to the right. She was an eminent figure in the French academic world and journalism and served as senior commentator for Le Figaro, as a columnist for the Jewish monthly L'Arche, and as editor of the journals Communisme and Pardes, and was a member of the editorial board of Commentaire and Mouvement Social. In 1981 she undertook the presidency of the central group for Zionist thinking in France, sponsored by the World Zionist Organization. Among her many works are Les internationales ouvrières (1964, 1983³; Les juifs et le monde moderne (1977), Israel est-il coupable? (1982), Le systeme communiste mondial (1984), Reflexion sur les questions juives (1984), and an autobiography, Ce que j'ai cru comprendre (1991).

[Gideon Kouts (2^nd ed.)]