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Jean Hatzfeld

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Jean Hatzfeld is a French author and journalist who wrote extensively about the Bosnian War and the Rwandan Genocide in Rwanda. Born in Madagascar, Hatzfeld was the fourth child in the family of Olivier and Maud Hatzfeld. He spent his childhood in Chambon-sur-Lignon, a village in the mountains of Auvergne in France. 

During World War II, German occupation forces deported his grandparents from France, but they survived. In 1968, Hatzfeld traveled to Kabul and Peshawar, Pakistan. On his return to France, he worked on several factory tasks before settling in Paris. In 1975, Hatzfeld published his first article in the French newspaper Libération as a sports journalist. 

He then wrote serialized stories. Hatzfeld finally became a foreign correspondent, traveling to Israel, Palestine, Poland, Romania, and other places in Eastern Europe. Hatzfeld's first trip to Beirut convinced him to become a war correspondent. For 22 years, he covered wars in Africa and the Middle East and the Bosnian War. 

After his arrival in Rwanda as a reporter, shortly after the Rwandan genocide, Hatzfeld was struck by the collective failure of journalists covering the event and their incapacity to face up to the silence of the survivors. He decided to live in Rwanda to work with the Tutsi survivors of Nyamata, a village in the Bugesera district.

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Machete Season

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