His Jewish parents, Stanislas Gol, born in Warsaw, and Léa Karny, born in Liège from parents born in present-day Lithuania, were both medical doctors with diplomas from the University of Liège. After the Nazi invasion of Belgium in 1940, the Karny family and their stepsons took refuge in England, via France, Algeria, Morocco and Portugal. Stanislas Gol enlisted in the Brigade Piron, and Léa gave birth to Jean in exile. The family returned to Belgium in 1945, but Léa's parents, Coussel Karny and Yocheved Chamech, had gone back to Liège in December 1940 and had been deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1944 and didn't survive deportation. After the Second World War, Gol grew up in Belgium and studied law. He obtained a doctorate in law at the University of Liège.
Political career
Then a self-identified Marxist, he cofounded in 1965 with François Perin the Parti wallon des travailleurs, which was linked to the Belgian section of the Fourth International. Then, in 1968, they both split to form the Parti wallon, and Gol was elected on a larger regionalist ticket, the Rassemblement Wallon, a few weeks later for the 1968 Belgian general election on 31 March 1968.
Public offices
In 1974, he was Secrétaire d'État à l'Economie régionale wallonne in the governmentTindemans II. In 1976, he was one of the co-founders of the Parti des Réformes et des Libertés de Wallonie, a merger of the liberal Walloon PLP, and some dissidents of the Rassemblement Wallon. During the governments Martens V-VII, of 17 December 1981 up to 9 May 1988, he was: vice-premier, minister of justice and institutional reform. From 6 January 1985 up to 28 November 1985, Jean Gol replaced Willy De Clercq on the department of foreign trade. In June 1994, he was elected a member of the European Parliament, and in addition was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 1995.
Leadership within Francophone circles
Over a long period he was noted for his ability to empathize with local Walloon and Liégeois leaders from diverse political backgrounds, including with veteran Walloon Socialist André Cools; out of these efforts emerged what became known as the 'Colonster' group, which partly proved to be the catalyst for a strengthening of collective Francophone responses by way of counterweight to the increasing influence of Flemish-based parties in Belgium. In May 1992, he became president of the PRL, and in 1993 he was one of the architects of the PRL-FDF Federation, in collaboration with Antoinette Spaak.
