Who was Jean-Paul Sartre?
Born on 21 June 1905 in Paris, Jean-Paul was the only child of Jean Baptiste and Anna-Marie Sartre. Jean Baptiste, a decorated French naval officer, was away on assignment when his son first stuck a tentative finger into existence. Less than a year later, while away on another naval voyage, he contracted entercolitis and died at the age of 32. Later Sartre, who developed an intense dislike for the dominant patriarchs in his family, remarked: The death of Jean-Baptiste was my greatest piece of good fortune. I didn’t even have to forget him. Both Sartre’s parents came from distinguished middle-class backgrounds. Jean-Baptiste was the son of a respected country doctor who had published several notable medical texts while Anna-Marie was the first cousin of Albert Schweitzer, the world-renowned German missionary. After the death of her husband Anna-Marie and the young Poulou, as his mother affectionately called him, moved into the home of her father, the intimidating and philandering Karl S
