Jacques Panijel

Jacques Panijel, born on September 22, 1921, of Romanian origin, and died on September 12, 2010, in Paris, was an immunologist, biologist, writer, filmmaker, and anti-colonial activist.

A member of the Combat resistance network, and a maquis fighter at the age of twenty, Jacques Panijel participated in the establishment of the National Maquis Service. After the Liberation, he spent a year at the Ministry of War as head of the 1st Bureau. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Legion of Honor, and the Resistance Medal. In 1948, he published a novel entitled *La Rage* (The Rage), with Éditions de Minuit, about his years in the Resistance. This work, which explores the theme of intellectuals in physical action, received the support of Vercors but was criticized by the newspaper *L'Humanité*.

In 1961, Panijel co-directed, with Jean-Paul Sassy, ​​a fictional film, *La Peau et les Os* (Skin and Bones), filmed in prison, which won the Jean Vigo Prize. He also directed a film in 1957, *Le Balladin du monde occidental* (The Ballad of the Western World). He wrote plays, notably *Les Albigeois* (The Albigensians).