Henrik (Jindrich) Braun (1900-1977), born in Uzhhorod, art critic, photographer, social activist. His birthplace epitomises the upheavals of 20th century Europe. In 1890, Uzhhorod belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1920 it reverted to Czechoslovakia and then successively to Hungary and the Soviet Union. Since 1991 it has been part of Ukraine. Henryk Braun's parents were practising Polish-Jewish tailors. Deeply affected by the massacre of 1914-1918, in which his father was killed, and horrified by the ravages of nationalism, at the age of sixteen he joined the SDKPiL (Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania), an underground Marxist political party. It was in this circle that, as he was the youngest, the elders gave him the nickname Adam. In 1925 he emigrated to France and joined the Communist Party. He worked for several studios as a retoucher and then as an art and fashion photographer. At the same time, he was very active in the Kultur Liga, of which he became secretary. "The League promoted a secular and progressive Jewish culture and was dominated by communists. It was there that he met his wife, whom he married in 1935. In 1937, together with the lawyer Léo Glaeser, he helped to organise the World Congress for the Defence of Jewish Culture, which was held at Wagram Hall. Dismissed from Luigi Diaz's studio in 1938 for his participation in the general strike against the Munich Accords, he voluntarily enrolled in the Foreign Legion after the declaration of war in 1939. However, he was not called up and had to flee Paris when German troops arrived. As a member of the Resistance, he headed the General Defence Committee from Lyon. After the war, he returned to Paris and worked in the MRAP with Marc Chagall. To support Jewish social causes, he organised auctions of paintings by contemporary artists every two years. He became an art critic and published a column entitled 'Peinture fraîche' in Lettres françaises, Aragon's newspaper. Modest as he was, he bought a new canvas and covered the walls of his small Parisian flat with it. He met many painters of his time and gradually amassed a very large collection of paintings. He died in 1977 and his grandchildren put the collection up for auction in 2013. (https://www.appl-lachaise.net/adam-braun-henri-1900-1977).