Jacques Rossi

Who was Jacques Rossi?

Jacques Rossi was a Polish-French writer and polyglot. Rossi was best known for his books on the Gulag.

He was born as Franz Xaver Heyman and was the son of architect Martin Heyman and Léontine Charlotte Goyet who was for a time governess in Kalisz. In 1962, in Poland, he changed name from Franciszek Ksawiery Heyman to Jacek Franciszek Rossi - perhaps in recognition of his real father's name. He was a member of the Communist Party of Poland as well as of the comintern. He participated in the Spanish Civil War. At one time, he worked for Leon Trotsky and interpreted for Stalin. In 1937, he was called to Moscow and, most likely due to his prior connection with Trotsky, was imprisoned in Soviet camps until after Stalin's death in 1953. In 1961 he returned to Warsaw with the help of his brother Piotr Heyman. A polyglot, he was a lecturer in the University of Warsaw School of Foreign Languages under the name Jacek Rossi. He lived in Warsaw till about 1980. In 1985 he traveled to France and was naturalized as French citizen.