Origins & Early Life

Michel Thomas (born Moniek Kroskof, February 3, 1914 – January 8, 2005) was a polyglot linguist and decorated war veteran. He survived imprisonment in several Nazi concentration camps after serving in the Maquis of the French Resistance and worked with the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps during World War II. After the war, Thomas immigrated to the United States, where he developed a language-teaching system known as the "Michel Thomas method".

Pivotal Works & Achievements

In 2004, he was awarded the Silver Star by the United States Army. Thomas was born in Łódź, Poland, to a wealthy Jewish family who owned textile factories. When he was seven years old, his parents sent him to Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), where he fitted in comfortably. The rise of the Nazis drove him to leave for the University of Bordeaux in France in 1933, and subsequently the Sorbonne and the University of Vienna. Thomas's biography gives an account of his war years.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

When France fell to the Nazis, he lived in Nice, under the Vichy government, changing his name to Michel Thomas so he could operate in the French Resistance movement more easily. He was arrested several times, and finally sent...

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