Franz Hessel

Franz Hessel (1880–1941) was a German writer, novelist, feuilletonist, translator, and editor. Born in Stettin into an affluent Jewish family, he was at one point associated with the George Circle. Together with Walter Benjamin, he translated works by Marcel Proust into German. Persecuted under the Nazi regime because of his Jewish background, Hessel left Germany in 1938. He died in exile in Sanary-sur-Mer in 1941. His relationship with Helen Hessel and Henri-Pierre Roché provided the biographical basis for François Truffaut’s film “Jules et Jim”.