Of Polish descent, Michel Maurice-Bokanowski was born on 6 November 1912 in Paris, the son of the politician Maurice Bokanowski (1879–1928).

[1] His mother was Marguerite Wolff (born 1886), who married Maurice Bokanowski on 14 April 1908.

He had an elder brother, Jean-Jacques Bokanowski, who became an advocate at the Court of Appeal of Paris.

[2] His father was killed on 2 September 1928 in an air accident when flying from Toul to an aviation meeting in Clermont-Ferrand.

[2] During World War II (1939–45) Michel Maurice-Bokanowski belonged to the Free French forces.

He was Secretary of State for the Interior from 20 January 1959 to 4 February 1960 in the cabinet of Michel Debré, leaving his seat to his deputy Jacques Sanglier.

[1] Maurice-Bokanowski was mayor of Asnières-sur-Seine in the northwestern suburbs of Paris from 1959 until 1994, and a director of various companies in the commune, including the Société industrielle de récupération métallurgique, the Compagnie française des fontes en coquille (CFCE), Klippan France SA and the Société Neiman.

[1] Maurice-Bokanowski was reelected mayor of Asnières for a fifth time in 1989, but was defeated in an election in March 1994.