Jean-Pierre Lévy

Life & Legacy

Jean-Pierre Lévy (28 May 1911 – 15 December 1996) was a French Jewish industrialist and Second World War resistance leader. He worked in the textile industry before being called up as a reserve officer ahead of the war. After the fall of France Lévy joined the resistance and in 1941 co-founded the Franc-Tireur movement. He led the organisation and edited its newspaper. After meeting with Jean Moulin he agreed to help co-ordinate resistance movements in France and went on to join the directorate of the Mouvements unis de la Résistance (MUR). Lévy left France in April 1943 to meet resistance leaders and Charles de Gaulle in London and Algiers. He returned in July and was arrested in October. Lévy was freed by a MUR raid and joined the National Council of the Resistance. He was present at the August 1944 liberation of Paris.
After the war Levy held several business roles in the textile and coal industries and for Renault. He was president of the HEC Paris business school and administrator of the National Forests Office. Lévy remained committed to the cause of resistance fighters and was a member of the council of the Order of Liberation and the founding vice-president of Revivre. He went on to be administrator of SOS Children's Villages in France and the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation. Lévy also served on the central committee of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism.