Henri Krasucki, 78; Death Camp Survivor, French Labor Leader
Henri Krasucki, 78, who as a teenager joined the anti-Nazi French Resistance and survived internment at Auschwitz and Buchenwald to become an influential French labor leader, died Friday in his Paris home after a long illness.
A native of Poland, Krasucki grew up in Paris and joined the communist resistance when World War II broke out.
At 18, he was arrested by the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis and was handed over to the Gestapo. He was deported to Auschwitz, and later moved to Buchenwald, spending nearly two years in the concentration camps.
After the war, he worked in the metal industry, and in 1947 became a naturalized French citizen. He was elected secretary of France’s communist-backed General Confederation of Labor trade union in 1960. He directed the union publication “Worker’s Life” from then until 1982, when he was elected general secretary, holding that top position until 1992.
He also was in the French Communist Party and wrote several books, including “Unions and Class Struggles” and “A Modern Union? Yes!”
Krasucki was known for having a passion for classical music, particularly the works of Beethoven and Mozart, and for French Impressionist paintings.
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