Born in Madrid, Spain. A member of the Spanish Communist Party and combatant against Franco, he was deported in 1942, then fought with the French Resistance and was imprisoned by the Nazis at Buchenwald. After the war he was a journalist for UNESCO and in the 1960s began writing novels and screenplays. Disenchanted with the Communist Party, he expressed in his writing loathing of totalitarian regimes of any kind. He received Oscar® nominations for the scripts of Renais' LA GUERRE EST FINIE (1966) and Costa-Gavras' Z (1969). Other notable writing credits, alone or in collaboration, include OBJECTIF: 500 MILLIONS (1966), L'AVEU / THE CONFESSION (1970), L'ATTENTAT / THE ASSASSINATION (1972), STAVISKY... (1974), SECTION SPÉCIALE (1975), UNE FEMME À SE FENÊTRE / A WOMAN AT HER WINDOW (1976), LES ROUTES DU SUD / ROADS TO THE SOUTH (1978), LES TROTTOIRS DE SATURNE (1986), L'AFFAIRE DREYFUS (1995, TV), and K (1997). Semprún wrote and directed one film, LES DEUX MÉMOIRES / THE TWO MEMORIES (1973).  Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay written directly for the screen) 1967: LA GUERRE EST FINIE  Nominated for Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on material from another medium) 1969: Z (w. Costa-Gavras) 2 nominations