Maurice Nizard was born in the Tunis suburb of La Goulette on March 31, 1914. He studied law and became an attorney and a member of the Tunis bar. In November 1934, he left for France, where he joined the French Communist Party in 1936. He was the propaganda secretary and editor-in-chief of the official  information agency of the Spanish Republic in Paris from 1937 to 1938. When he returned to Tunisia in 1939, he reapplied to the Tunis bar but his request was denied. He then joined the underground leadership of the Tunisian Communist Party.

Most of the party’s leaders were arrested in Nov…