Alter Mojze Goldman

Alter Mojze Goldman (17 November 1909 – 1988) was a Polish Jew and member of the French Résistance during World War II.

He was born in Lublin after the death of his father. Fleeing antisemitic discrimination, Alter emigrated briefly to Germany at some point during the 1920s before relocating to France. There, he worked as a miner before joining the Chasseurs d'Afrique in Algeria and obtaining French citizenship in 1930. A communist, he grew disillusioned by the assassination of Leon Trotsky and the excesses of Joseph Stalin.

In 1939, he was mobilized in the French military and was decorated. After which he went south to the unoccupied part of France (Lyon), where he joined the FTP-MOI Communist movement, which was composed of immigrants. His unit was involved in urban sabotage efforts.

In Lyon, he met Janine Sochaczewska. The couple had a son, Pierre Goldman, in 1944 before separating. Sochaczewska returned to Poland in 1947. With help from some former wartime comrades, Alter abducted Pierre so that he would not grow up in the country that had seen the elimination of so many Jews.

In June 1949, Alter married Ruth Ambrunn, another Jewish Résistance fighter, born in Munich in 1922. Pierre was then legitimized as their son. The couple had three children together: a daughter, Evelyne, and two sons, Jean-Jacques Goldman, the pop singer, and Robert Goldman, a songwriter.

Goldman was elected to the Légion d'Honneur on 19 November 1988 for his role in the Résistance. Barely a month later, he passed on at the age of seventy-nine.