Jean Améry, an Austrian Jew active in the Resistance movement in Belgium, survived mistreatment and torture at the hands of Nazi authorities. He was held captive in several concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz. After liberation in 1945, he lectured and wrote numerous essays and books, many confronting moral and philosophical issues of the Nazi era and the Holocaust and grappling with his own identity and place in the world. In 1955 he replaced his original German name Hans with the French Jean, and adopted Améry, an anagram of his family name, Maier. He resided in Brussels, Belgium, working as a journalist, and keeping his distance from Germany and Austria. In 1966, Améry published the book that ma

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First published 14 October 2008

Citation: S. Saur, Pamela. "Jean Améry". The Literary Encyclopedia. 14 October 2008.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12180, accessed 21 November 2009.]