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The first Jewish prime minister of France, a poet and author. Born in Paris, he graduated with a law degree from the Sorbonne. He began his political career in 1894, following the Dreyfus affair. In 1936, he led the formation of the leftist Popular Front and won the elections, becoming Prime Minister for a short period. Just before World War II, he became Prime Minister again. After the Nazi invasion in 1940, Blum was indicted and brought to trial, at which he embarrassed the Nazi-cooperative Vichy government with his rhetoric. The trial was suspended and he was sent to Buchenwald, then to Dachau, and released in 1945, becoming the temporary prime minister in 1946.
