Jean-François Kahn, founder of “Marianne” of which he was the director for a long time, died this Wednesday, January 22 at the age of 86. A creative and free journalist, an iconoclastic essayist, a precise interviewer and a swashbuckler, he left his mark on the French intellectual landscape. From Jean-Pierre Chevènement to Nicolas Domenach, many personalities have paid tribute to him, with “Marianne” or on X.
Jean-François Kahn was a silhouette permanently connected to 100,000 volts, a round face full of sharp features, a high-pitched voice recognizable among all. But Jean-François Kahn is above all an intellectual posterity.
Unique character in the world of journalism, founder of Thursday Event then Mariannea figure who became familiar to the French from set to set, he leaves a major legacy. And this legacy is still the intellectuals and public figures who knew “JFK” who speak about it best.
Jean-Pierre Chèvenement
“With Jean-François Kahn, an exceptionally brilliant and courageous man disappears. Far from any conformism, he was a pioneer, particularly with regard to international issues and the ravages of neoliberalism. His vision of Europe could be open to discussion, but it highlighted what was its greatest originality: its refusal of arbitrariness, of narrow-minded conservatism and aligned with the main directions of American diplomacy. Jean-François Kahn will be missed by all fighting republicans and all free spirits, anxious to overcome divisions which contribute nothing to the understanding of our time. His death makes us feel the need for reflection and commitment that are the antithesis of single-minded thinking.”
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Stéphane Rozès, pollster and essayist
“Great sadness. I worked as a pollster for Jean-Francois Kahn when he headed theThursday Event et Marianne. He was a republican, he was cultured, energetic, curious, inventive and generous. He trained a number of journalists. He took me on numerous debates and on a cruise where he made me read his Manifesto of Call for Marianne. I send my condolences to his family and loved ones. Rest in peace Jean-Francois, you worked well and we loved you. The show continues down here.”
READ ALSO: Non-conformist and unclassifiable, Jean-François Kahn, founder of “Marianne”, is dead
-Denis Olivennes, chairman of the supervisory board of CMI France (owner of Marianne)
“He was a great press man, a rare breed, an inventor of successful newspapers, which is even rarer. Intelligent, cultured, non-conformist, free, independent, creative, popular, tolerant and charmingly witty. It's more than a loss because I fear that there will never be another like this in the world of what he called, with his sense of provocation, “media horror”. »
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Georges Kuzmanovic, politician
“All my condolences to the family and loved ones of Jean-François Kahn who left us this morning. Heartfelt thoughts for his colleagues and friends of Marianneof which he was the founder.
Nicolas Domenach, former deputy director of Marianne :
“‘Citizen Kahn,’ Falstaff too. J. F Kahn, Genius. Companion in combat and life until the victory of “revolutionary centrism” against left-right hemiplegia. But who knew that nothing was taken for granted against the powerful. Hence this wonderful laugh that I will never forget…”
France
