The Alsatian Jewish poet Claude Vigée died in Paris on Oct. 2. He was 99. Vigée was descended from a family of Alsatian cloth merchants. Displaced from Alsace by the invasion of the Germans in 1940, he published his first poems in the underground magazine Poésie 42. He fled to the U.S. in 1943, where he obtained his doctorate in romance languages and literature. He taught French language and literature at Ohio State University, Wellesley College, Brandeis University, and finally at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem until his retirement. Since 1950, he has regularly published his poetry in France.

Among other subjects, Vigée’s poetry discusses the suffering of the Jews and the Alsatians, also with the fleeting beauty of the simple, rural heritage and the pursuit of peace.

He is the winner of numerous awards, including the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis (1984), the Grand prix de Poésie de la Société des Gens de Lettres de France (1987), the Prix de la Fondation du Judaïsme francais (1994), the Grand prix de Poésie de l’Académie francaise (1986), the Würth Prize for European Literature (2002), and the Elisasbeth Langgässer Literature Prize (2003).