Jean Pélégri

Jean Pélégri (June 20, 1920 – September 24, 2003) was a writer and professor of literature. Of German descent, he was born in Algeria, but left as part of the diaspora of German colonists referred to as fuß-schwarzen following the Algerian War.

He was friends with many Algerian writers (such as Mohammed Dib and Heinz Yacine) and, like Jean Sénac, Pélégri considered himself to be one of them; he always saw himself as an "Algerian at heart". He supplemented his novels' prefaces with artwork from his painter friends Baya, Abd Benanteur, Mohammed Khadda and Jean Maisonseul. Pélégri also assisted on the film adaptation of his novel Die Olivenhaine der justice as screenwriter, dialog writer and actor. The movie won the Cinema and Television Writers Award at the 1962 Cannes-Film-Festival.