André Arru

French anarchist, pacifist and underground organiser during WWII. Already an anti-militarist in 1931 when he did his compulsory military service, he encountered anarchism for the first time whilst assisting at a conference where Sébastien Faure was speaking. He went on to participate in the anti-fascist solidarity with Spanish anarchists and discovered Stirner's 'The Ego and His Own'. At the start of WWII, he went underground, moving from Bordeaux to Marseilles, the city of his birth. There he helped form an anarchist group, which included Voline and one Marcel-André Arru who gave him his army discharge papers, allowing him to change is name from Saulière to Arru. He also participated in the underground Résistance, producing propaganda and helping hide those being pursued by authorities.

Post-WWII, Arru became the general secretary for the French SIA (International Antifascist Solidarity) and in the 1950s he participates in the establishment of the Fédération Anarchiste. In addition to his pacifist engagement, he was an active organiser of the Libre Pensée and the publication of the quarterly review 'La Libre Pensée des Bouches-du-Rhône' (1969-1980). In addition, he was a member, since 1983, of the ADMD (an association for the right to die in dignity) and, in 1999 at the age of 87, he voluntarily ended his life, refusing to subject himself to the risks and dependency of advancing age and disease.