Raoul Villain (September 19, 1885 – September 17, 1936) was a French nationalist. He is primarily remembered for his assassination of the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès on July 31, 1914, in Paris. Villain was acquitted by a jury of peers in 1919 and later fled to the Balearic island of Ibiza, where he was killed during the first stages of the Spanish Civil War.
Jacques Pâris de Bollardière (16 December 1907 – 22 February 1986) was a French Army general, famous for his advocacy of non-violence during the 1960s.
Kémi Séba (French-language version of Egyptian for "black star"), born Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi on 9 December 1981, is a Pan-Africanist political leader, French–Beninese writer, and geopolitical journalist, seen as a prominent figure of anti-colonialist resistance in francophone Africa in the 21st century.Since April 2013 he has been a geopolitical analyst on several West African televisions and has given lectures about Pan-Africanism in many African universities. From 2015, at the head of his NGO Urgences Panafricanistes that he founded, he led a fight against french neocolonialism. He denounces the CFA franc and the lack of monetary sovereignty that affects countries using this currency, through political demonstrations in all French-speaking African countries. He is the initiator of the demonstrations against the CFA franc who took place in January 2017 in several French-speaking African countries.
In January 2018 he was elected as 2017 African Personality of the Year by Africanews, for his fight against French neocolonialism and the CFA Franc in Africa.
Friedrich Wolf (23 December 1888 – 5 October 1953) was a German doctor and politically-engaged writer. From 1949 to 1951, he served as East Germany's first ambassador to Poland.
Florence Rey ([flɔ.ʁɑ̃s ʁɛj], born August 27, 1975) and her boyfriend Audry Maupin ([o.dʁi mo.pɛ̃], born April 20, 1972) were involved in a shoot-out in central Paris on October 4, 1994 following a high speed car chase. The incident dramatically involved homicide, hostage-taking and violent robbery all in the space of 25 minutes. The incident caused the deaths of five people; three policemen, a taxi driver, and Maupin. It was a major case in France and received much attention from the media.
Philippe Berre (born 6 June 1954 in Paris, France) is a French impostor and confidence trickster whose story inspired a 2009 movie In the Beginning by Xavier Giannoli, where Berre was interpreted by French actor François Cluzet.
Patrick Topaloff (30 December 1944 – 7 March 2010) was a French comedian, singer, and actor.
The son of a Georgian father and a Corsican mother which, according to him, made him "a delicate Franco-Russian dessert", Topaloff began his career on Europe 1, where his comic antics drew a wide audience, especially among children who delighted in his many silly catch phrases. Popular singer Claude François encouraged him to try his hand at singing, and his recording of "Il Vaut Bien Mieux Etre Jeune, Riche et Beau" ("It's Much Better to Be Young, Rich, and Beautiful") became a major hit and the first of several gold records.
In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, writer/director Philippe Clair cast Topaloff in a number of slapstick comedy films similar to the Carry On series in the UK or those made by Jerry Lewis in the US after splitting with Dean Martin. His last feature film was Drôles de Zèbres for writer/director Guy Lux in 1977.
In his later years, problems in Topaloff's private life overshadowed his professional successes. Deeply in debt, he frequently worked without billing in an effort to avoid liens being placed on his salary. In 1995, he was sentenced to a year in prison for non-payment of alimony and taxes. Paroled after four months, he undertook a new and successful stage career.
Maxime Brunerie (born 21 May 1977) is a French convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi activist, known for his 14 July 2002 assassination attempt on Jacques Chirac, while he was still the President of France, during the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.