Unlike his brother, Axel (1), the journalist and founder of Marianne Jean-François Kahn was not born in Indre-et-Loire. It was born on June 12, 1938 in Viroflay (Yvelines). It was during the Second World War that he moved to Touraine to take shelter from the Nazi occupiers.
“He had a Jewish surname, which he got from his father. His mother had come to hide him at Petit-Pressigny,” traces Périco Légasse, who lost “a spiritual dad” this Thursday, January 23, 2025. Jean-François Kahn died at the age of 86.
A second mother in Petit-Pressigny
In South Touraine, the Kahn brothers grew up alongside Léontine Moreau. “Their mother was resistant and was often absentadds journalist Périco Légasse. When the family left at the end of the war, it was experienced as a heartbreak. The children were very attached to this nanny who was like a second mother. »
“She was a poor woman who had a difficult life. She lost both her husbands in the First and Second World Wars. Each having left him a son. Despite her two soldiers' widow's pensions, she lived frugally. Axel Kahn confided in May 2019 during yet another reunion at Petit-Pressigny.
Travels with Périco Légasse
If he remained discreet about his childhood in Touraine despite strong friendships, Jean-François Kahn was also very attached to Touraine. He often came back “on pilgrimage”, evokes Périco Légasse, who had the opportunity to accompany him on many occasions. Such professional and gourmet trips.
The gastronomic journalist, with ties to Azay-le-Rideau, joined in 1987 Thursday Eventweekly created by Jean-François Kahn.
Numerous literary visits
Jean-François Kahn also often had the opportunity to travel to the region to defend his Books. In October 2022, he was a guest at the L'art et lard festival, at Petit-Pressigny. A few days later, he came to talk about the second volume of his Memories from beyond life at the Tours Opera Book Fair. The president of Livres en Loire, Monique Lefaucheur, remembers “someone warm”.
-In October 2022, Jean-François Kahn was at the Tours Opera to present his second volume of “Mémoires d’outre-vies”.
© Photos “Books in Loire”
For his part, Christian Panvert, co-organizer of La Forêt des Livres in Chanceaux-près-Loches, describes a man who is always “enthusiastic, like a teenager”.
“When he came in August 2022, he participated in the inauguration of rue Gonzague-Saint-Bris on Saturday in Loches. And to a debate with Nathalie Saint-Cricq on Sunday, remembers the journalist who moderated the exchange. He was already very tired physically but not at all intellectually. He really liked to debate. »
“He was a prototype of the free spirit… He said things as he meant them. For people on the left, he was right-wing. For people on the right, he was left-wing,” Périco Légasse likes to say, not hiding his feelings “broken into a thousand pieces” after his disappearance.
In August 2022 Jean-François Kahn debated with Nathalie Saint-Cricq and Christian Panvert.
© Photo Christophe Gaye, The Forest of Books at Gonzague Saint-Bris
“He called me four days ago and told me he wasn't going to make any old bones… We had planned a restaurant next Thursday. » Free, Jean-François Kahn left a little early.
