Memorial Page for Stéphane Hessel (née Stefan Friedrich Kaspar Hessel)

Stéphane Hessel (born Stefan Friedrich Kaspar Hessel on 20 October 1917 in Berlin; died 26 February 2013) was a French diplomat, writer, resistance fighter and human-rights activist of German origin. Late in life he became internationally known through the essay Indignez-vous!, published in English as Time for Outrage!, which appeared in 2010.

Berlin, Paris and background

Hessel was born in Berlin. His father Franz Hessel was a writer and translator, and his mother Helen Grund came from a German Jewish family. In 1924 the family moved to Paris. Hessel therefore grew up between German and French culture and became a French citizen in 1937. This double formation remained important for his later thought: language, Europe, responsibility and freedom were never merely abstract terms for him.

Resistance and camp imprisonment

After France's defeat in the Second World War, Hessel joined the circle of Free France around Charles de Gaulle. He worked for the BCRA intelligence service and returned to France on missions. In 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo, tortured and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, later to Dora. Hessel survived through an exchange of identity and escape. These experiences shaped his life, but he did not later define himself only through persecution.

Diplomat and human rights

After the war, Hessel entered diplomatic service. In the environment of the United Nations he was involved in the work that led to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. He later worked in various international functions, including for France and at the United Nations. For him, human rights were not only a historic document, but a practical obligation toward stateless people, refugees, minorities and those persecuted for political reasons.

Public voice

Hessel wrote books, gave lectures and intervened in political debates. He argued for nonviolence, social responsibility and international solidarity. His positions were not always uncontested, especially in his statements on the Middle East conflict. For that reason his public work does not appear smooth: Hessel spoke from a moral experience that inspired many people, but also provoked disagreement.

Time for Outrage!

In 2010 Hessel published the short essay Indignez-vous!. The text became an unexpected bestseller in France and far beyond. It encouraged readers not to accept indifference as normal. In Spain, in the Occupy movement and in many civil-society debates, Hessel became a symbol of late-life dissent. The power of the text lay not in new theory, but in the authority of a very long life.

Farewell

Stéphane Hessel died on 26 February 2013 at the age of 95. His name remains connected with resistance, diplomacy and a simple demand that is difficult to dismiss: to stay awake to injustice without giving up hope for change.