# Sami al-Jundi

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Syrian politician (1921–1995)

Sami al-Jundi Sami al-Jundi second from the left, Paris 1967 Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch In office 1 February 1964 – 4 April 1965 Minister of Culture In office 8 March 1963 – 12 November 1963 Preceded by Rafik Gabriel Bashour Succeeded by Shibli al-Aysami Minister of Information In office 13 May 1963 – 14 May 1964 Preceded by Jamal al-Atassi Succeeded by Abdullah Abdel-Dayem Syrian ambassador in France In office 11 July 1964 – 1 August 1969 Preceded by Assaad Said Mahassen Succeeded by Kamel Hussein Personal details Born (1921-12-15)15 December 1921 Salamiyah, French Mandate of Syria Died 14 December 1995(1995-12-14) (aged 73) Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic Party Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Relatives Ali al-Jundi (brother) Abd al-Karim al-Jundi (cousin) Alma mater Damascus University

**Sami al-Jundi** ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): سامي الجندي;‎ 15 December 1921 – 14 December 1995) was a Syrian [Ba'athist](/source/Ba'athism) politician, and a follower of [Michel Aflaq](/source/Michel_Aflaq).

## Life

Sami was born to a [Sunni](/source/Sunni) father, but hails from a family that is mixed [Ismaili](/source/Ismaili)-Sunni.[1] An older cousin of [Abd al-Karim al-Jundi](/source/Abd_al-Karim_al-Jundi),[2] Jundi was born to a scholarly family in [Salamiyah](/source/Salamiyah).[3] He studied [dentistry](/source/Dentistry) at [Damascus University](/source/Damascus_University), graduating in 1944. Initially attracted to [Arab nationalism](/source/Arab_nationalism) by [Zaki al-Arsuzi](/source/Zaki_al-Arsuzi), he joined the Ba'ath Party of [Michel Aflaq](/source/Michel_Aflaq) and [Salah al-Din al-Bitar](/source/Salah_al-Din_al-Bitar) in 1947. In the 1950s he joined [Gamal Abdel Nasser](/source/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser)'s Arab nationalist movement, and Nasser appointed him director of information and propaganda after Egypt and Syria merged as the [United Arab Republic](/source/United_Arab_Republic) in 1958. After the [1961 Syrian coup](/source/1961_Syrian_coup) installed [Nazim al-Qudsi](/source/Nazim_al-Qudsi), Jundi lost his job, but after the [1963 Syrian coup](/source/1963_Syrian_coup) he became minister of information in [Salah al-Bitar](/source/Salah_al-Bitar)'s cabinet. He was also official spokesman for the [Revolutionary Command Council](/source/Revolutionary_Command_Council_(Syria)) (RCC).[4]

The RCC named Jundi [prime minister](/source/Prime_Minister_of_Syria), delegating him to form a cabinet on 11 May 1963, but he failed to do so and resigned three days later. He was minister of information, culture and national guidance in Prime Minister Bitar's second cabinet, and remained in government under President [Amin al-Hafez](/source/Amin_al-Hafiz) until October 1964. In 1964 he became ambassador to France.[4]

Jailed in Syria for some time in 1969,[2] Jundi retired to [Beirut](/source/Beirut), writing his memoirs. After [Israeli invaded Lebanon](/source/1982_Lebanon_War) in 1982, he returned to Syria, but worked as a dentist and was not active politically.[4]

Jundi's account of the fate of the Ba'ath Party has been characterized as "an honest and sad portrayal of what has befallen many national anticolonial movements".[5]

## Works

- *Arab wa Yahud* [Arabs and Jews], Beirut, 1968

- *Sadiqi Ilyas* [My friend Ilyas], Beirut, 1969

- *Al Ba`th* [The Ba`th], Beirut, 1969

- *Athadda wa Attahim* [I challenge and I accuse], Beirut, 1969

## Origins of the *Ba'ath*

As a school student, al-Jundi attended political lectures of Arsuzi and became the secretary of a tiny group that called itself the Arab Resurrection (*Ba'ath*) Party.[6] Of that period he wrote:

We lived through this hope, strangers in our society which gradually increased our isolation: rebels against all the old values, enemies to all the conventions of humanity, rejecting all ceremonies, relationships and religions. We sought the fight everywhere we were an unrelenting pickaxe. ...

We were racialists [’irqiyyin], admiring Nazism, reading its books and the source of its thought, particularly Nietzsche's *[Thus Spake Zarathustra](/source/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra)*, Fichte's *[Addresses to the German Nation](/source/Addresses_to_the_German_Nation)*, and H. S. Chamberlain's *[Foundations of the Nineteenth Century](/source/The_Foundations_of_the_Nineteenth_Century)*, which revolves on race.[7] We were the first to think of translating *Mein Kampf*.

Whoever has lived during this period in Damascus will appreciate the inclination of the Arab people to Nazism, for Nazism was the power which could serve as its champion, and he who is defeated will by nature love the victor. But our belief was rather different. ...[8]

We were idealists, basing social relationships on love. The Master [Arsuzi] used to speak about Christ, and I think he was influenced by Nietzsche's *The Origin of Tragedy*. He took the pre-Islamic period for his ideal, calling it the golden age of the Arabs.[6]

Arsuzi's group disbanded in 1944, but most of the members belonged as well to [Michel Aflaq](/source/Michel_Aflaq)'s group, also called the Ba'ath, that grew in the Syrian [Ba'ath Party](/source/Ba'ath_Party_(Syrian-dominated_faction)).[6]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** منصور, محمد. ["في ذكرى رحيله الـ18... سامي الجندي: أول بعثي هجا حزب البعث وتحدث عن المخطط الطائفي العلوي !"](https://www.zamanalwsl.net/news/article/44857). *www.zamanalwsl.net* (in Arabic).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Rabinovič1972_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Rabinovič1972_2-1) [Itamar Rabinovič](/source/Itamar_Rabinovich) (1972). [*Syria Under the Baʻth, 1963-66: The Army Party Symbiosis*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KqR5eFb3xGsC&pg=PA237). Transaction Publishers. p. 237. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4128-3550-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4128-3550-3). Retrieved 14 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Ajami2012_3-0)** Fouad Ajami (2012). [*The Syrian Rebellion*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Smc_kC5anMsC&pg=PT29). Hoover Press. p. 29. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8179-1506-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8179-1506-3). Retrieved 14 July 2013.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Moubayed2006_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Moubayed2006_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Moubayed2006_4-2) [Sami M. Moubayed](/source/Sami_Moubayed) (2006). [*Steel and Silk: Men and Women who Shaped Syria 1900-2000*](https://books.google.com/books?id=sC-xU8QHSooC&pg=PA264). Cune Press. p. 264. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-885942-40-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-885942-40-1). Retrieved 14 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Ajami1992_5-0)** [Fouad Ajami](/source/Fouad_Ajami) (1992). [*The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ye5sewVWcTAC&pg=PA62). Cambridge University Press. pp. 49–59. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-521-43833-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-43833-9). Retrieved 14 July 2013.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Kedouri_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Kedouri_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Kedouri_6-2) Elie Kedourie (1974). *Arabic Political Memoirs and Other Studies*. London: Frank Cass. pp. 199–201.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** According to Gilbert Achcar, The Arabs and the Holocaust (2010), p.69, "which revolves on race" is a mistranslation for "and Darré's *The Race*".

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** This ellipsis appears in Kedourie's translation. Nordbruch provides a fuller translation: "But we were a different school [of thought]. Those who do not get deep into the principles of the Arab National Party – and these principles are the very principles of the Arab Ba‘th – might be misled [about the influence of Nazism]." Götz Nordbruch. "'Cultural Fusion' of Thought and Ambitions? Memory, Politics and the History of Arab–Nazi German Encounters". *Middle East Studies*. **47** (1): 183–194.

v t e Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Iraqi-dominated faction Syrian-dominated faction History Predecessors Arab Ba'ath Arab Ba'ath Movement Arab Socialist Movement Syrian Committee to Help Iraq Founders Michel Aflaq Salah al-Din al-Bitar Pre-split 1954 Syrian coup d'état 14 July Revolution 1959 Mosul uprising Attempted assassination of Abdul-Karim Qasim 1961 Syrian coup d'état Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Ba'athist Syria Politics National Council for the Revolutionary Command Ar-Rashid revolt November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état 1964 Hama riot 1966 Syrian coup d'état Post-split 17 July Revolution Ba'athist Iraq Revolutionary Command Council Members Arab Belt Corrective Revolution Corrective Movement Union of Arab Republics Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Assadist–Saddamist conflict 1984 Syrian coup attempt 8th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party Faith Campaign Iraqi conflict De-Ba'athification in Iraq Ba'ath Party archives Syrian civil war Fall of the Assad regime Leadership General Secretaries Pre-split Michel Aflaq Munif Razzaz Iraqi-dominated faction Michel Aflaq Saddam Hussein Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Salah Al-Mukhtar* Syrian-dominated faction Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Abdullah al-Ahmar (de facto) Bashar al-Assad Regional Secretaries Iraq Fuad al-Rikabi Talib El-Shibib Ali Salih al-Sa'di Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed* Jordan Abdullah Rimawi Munif Razzaz Akram al-Homsi* Lebanon Assem Qanso Abd al-Majid al-Rafei Palestine Isam al-Qadi Rakad Salem* Syria Hammud al-Shufi Shibli al-Aysami Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Bashar al-Assad Members of the National Command Hadiya Khalaf Abbas Michel Aflaq Abdullah al-Ahmar Zaki al-Arsuzi Bashar al-Assad Hafez al-Assad Nureddin al-Atassi Mansur al-Atrash Shibli al-Aysami Ali Abdullah Ayyoub Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Salah al-Din al-Bitar Elias Farah Hakem Al-Fayez Wahib al-Ghanim Amin al-Hafiz Akram al-Hourani Salah Jadid Zuheir Mohsen Munif Razzaz Fuad al-Rikabi Abdullah Rimawi Ali Salih al-Sa'di Talib El-Shibib Khaled Yashruti Members of the Regional Commands Iraq Humam Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafur Ghanim Abdul-Jalil Saad Abdul-Majid Jamal Mustafa Abdullah Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed Salah Omar al-Ali Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash Salih Mahdi Ammash Hussein Al-Awadi Tariq Aziz Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Adil Abdullah Mahdi Al-Douri Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Saadoun Ghaidan Fadil Mahmud Gharib Mizban Khadr al-Hadi Sa'dun Hammadi Qusay Hussein Saddam Hussein Latif Nassif Jassim Rashid Taan Kazim Adnan Khayr Allah Ali Hassan al-Majid Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najim Aziz Saleh Al-Numan Ghazi Hamoud Al-Obaidi Taha Yassin Ramadan Fawzi Mutlaq al-Rawi Rashid al-Rifai Fuad al-Rikabi Ali Salih al-Sa'di Abd Al-Baqi Abd Karim Al-Sadun Muhammad Zimam al-Sadun Abdul Khaliq al-Samarra'i Abdullah Sallum al-Samarra'i Talib El-Shibib Nayef Shindakh Thamer Khamis Sirhan Hardan al-Tikriti Yahya Abdallah al-Ubaydi Tahir Yahya Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi Ibrahim Hesqel Lebanon Musa Shuaib Syria Hadiya Khalaf Abbas Abdullah al-Ahmar Hussein Arnous Bashar al-Assad Hafez al-Assad Maher al-Assad Rifaat al-Assad Nureddin al-Atassi Shibli al-Aysami Ali Abdullah Ayyoub Mahmoud al-Ayyubi Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan Muhsen Bilal Mahdi Dakhlallah Ahmad Diyab Ali Duba Fahd Jassem al-Freij Marwan Habash Ibrahim al-Hadid Amin al-Hafiz Muhammad Ali al-Halabi Wael Nader al-Halqi Adnan Badr Hassan Salim Hatum Hilal Hilal Mohammad al-Hussein Hisham Ikhtiyar Salah Jadid Abdul-Karim al-Jundi Sami al-Jundi Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Abdul Halim Khaddam Imad Khamis Ahmad al-Khatib Abdul Rahman Khleifawi Mohammad Jihad al-Laham Ibrahim Makhous Zuhair Masharqa Muhammad Mustafa Mero Muhammad Naji al-Otari Abdul Qadir Qaddura Hammouda Sabbagh Farouk al-Sharaa Hikmat al-Shihabi Hammud al-Shufi Mustafa Tlass Hasan Turkmani Muhammad Umran Salim Yasin Mahmoud Al-Zoubi Yusuf Zuayyin Yemen Ali Ahmad Nasser al-Dhahab Heads of state Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Syria Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi Ahmad al-Khatib Hafez al-Assad Presidency Abdul Halim Khaddam (interim) Bashar al-Assad Presidency Heads of government Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Sa'dun Hammadi Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai Syria Salah al-Din al-Bitar Amin al-Hafiz Yusuf Zuayyin Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad Abdul Rahman Khleifawi Mahmoud al-Ayyubi Muhammad Ali al-Halabi Abdul Rauf al-Kasm Mahmoud Al-Zoubi Muhammad Mustafa Mero Muhammad Naji al-Otari Adel Safar Riyad Farid Hijab Wael Nader al-Halqi Imad Khamis Hussein Arnous Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali * = incumbent Organization Regional branches Iraqi-dominated faction Algeria Bahrain Egypt Iraq Regional Command Jordan Lebanon Libya Mauritania Palestine Sudan Tunisia Yemen Syrian-dominated faction Jordan Lebanon Mauritania Palestine Yemen Sudan Syria Central Command History National Security Bureau Yemen Committees Control and Inspection Committee Military Committee Newspapers Al-Ba'ath Sawt al-Jamahir Al-Thawra Al-Souria Popular fronts National Progressive Front (Iraq) National Progressive Front (Syria) Wings Paramilitary Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Ba'ath Brigades Fedayeen Saddam General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Jaysh Muhammad al-Fatih National Defense Battalions National Defence Forces Popular Army Popular Resistance of the Eastern Region Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Syrian Popular Resistance Others General Federation of Trade Unions General Union of Peasants National Union of Syrian Students Revolutionary Youth Union Associated organizations Armed groups Al-Abud Network Free Iraqi Army Rejectionists Snake Party Breakaway groups Arab Revolutionary Workers Party Arab Socialist Movement Damascus branch Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party Arabic Toilers' Movement Al-Awda Arab Democratic Socialist Ba'ath Party Palestinian Arab Front Socialist Lebanon Sudanese Ba'ath Party Political alliances Current Alliance of Palestinian Forces Forces of Freedom and Change March 8 Alliance National Consensus Forces National Democratic Alliance Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian National and Islamic Forces Former Ahd Bloc Front of Patriotic and National Parties Lebanese National Movement Lebanese National Resistance Front National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria National Union Front Palestinian National Alliance Palestinian National Salvation Front Rejectionist Front Political parties Arab Socialist Union Party Arab Democratic Union Party Democratic Socialist Unionist Party Kurdistan Revolutionary Party Libyan National Movement National Covenant Party Popular Unity Party Sawab Social Democratic Unionists Socialist Unionist Party Syrian Communist Party Bakdash Unified Syrian Social Nationalist Party Intifada Wing in Lebanon Miscellaneous Ideology Anti-imperialism Anti-Zionism Arab nationalism Arab socialism Assadism Ba'athism Left-wing populism Neo-Ba'athism Pan-Arabism Progressivism Republicanism Revolutionary socialism Romantic nationalism Saddamism Secularism Socialism Ta'addudiyya Vanguardism Literature The Battle for One Destiny On the Way of Resurrection Symbolism Arḍulfurātayni Pan-Arab colors Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sami al-Jundi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_al-Jundi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_al-Jundi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.