Étienne Hirsch was born in 1901 in a Jewish family of German and Bohemian descent.

After France's defeat in the Battle of France during World War II, he immediately joined Charles de Gaulle in London and became an officer in the Free French Forces under the name of Commandant Bernard.

General de Gaulle put Hirsch in charge of supplying arms to the French Resistance forces on the Continent.

In 1943, he became a close associate with Jean Monnet in the French Committee of National Liberation in Algiers.

After the liberation of France, he directed a program to modernize the French economy.