Jean Améry

Jean Améry (1912–1978) was an Austrian-born essayist and Holocaust survivor, born Hans Mayer. Of Jewish origin, he became known for searing reflections on persecution, torture, exile, and the moral aftermath of the Nazi era. During World War II he joined the Belgian Resistance, was arrested by the Gestapo, and was deported to concentration camps, experiences that shaped his later writing. Under the name Jean Améry, he published influential essays that confront the limits of human endurance and the problem of belonging after catastrophe. His best-known books include *At the Mind’s Limits* and *On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death*.