Jean-Georges Kiejman

in Léo Matarasso, Seminario del 6 dicembre 2008, Cedetim, Parigi

I got to know Léo on a fraternal basis, then on a fraternal basis in the offices where we worked and where I modestly helped him to continue a professional activity that he too often sacrificed to his militant activities. One of my claims to fame is that I allowed Léo, who was the man of the fight, especially against capitalism, to become one day the lawyer of “salut les copains” and of the other publications (including Paris-Match) of the Daniel Filipacchi group, which had fallen out with me for an anecdotal reason that does not deserve to be told.
Thanks to this, Léo managed to survive at least materially. With a lot of humour and without betraying his ideals, he put himself at the service of the Filipacchi group.
What Vera says is extremely true, many lawyers would understand it better perhaps than those who are not, is that when Léo said he was of the word in action, he meant that he was first of all a man of action, for the account of the action was worthless compared to the action itself.
I would like to say, even though I never participated in his militant work and even though it was his quality as a militant that appealed to me, that he was a man who was capable of fighting against everything, including the apparatuses that he had served. I recall in particular the moment when the French Communist Party did not find Léo to be a model militant, that he took it easy with the party’s directives. The French communist party then tried to explain to the Vietnamese comrades that Léo was not a friend they could relate to. It is a tribute to the Vietnamese that for them the only thing that counted was the merit of Léo who, despite his age and fatigue, always made the necessary trips to help them and to report on the righteousness of their struggle. Léo remained a friend of the Vietnamese people to the end. The photo that was dear to him and adorned his desk was the one showing him between Pham van Dong and Ho Chi Min.
The directives of the apparatus were not important to Léo as they might be to other people or lawyers. What mattered to him was truly the defense of the people. So if many miscreants like me sometimes have a guilty conscience, it is enough for them to think of Léo to tell themselves that there are limits to general indifference and that everyone owes, like Léo, a greater cause than himself.

Kiejman, Georges

in:

<strong>Léo Matarasso,
Seminario del 6 dicembre 2008, Cedetim, Parigi
Milano, maggio 2009</strong>