Pierre Herbart was born in 1903 into a family of the Dunkirk bourgeoisie on the verge of being downgraded: while his grandfather was director of the shipyards, the chamber of commerce, the northern railways and a shipowner,Pierre Herbart, l'orgueil du dépouillement, Jean Luc Moreau, Grasset, p.17, 2014 his father decided, after having spent months spending the family fortune on generous celebrations, to "be a tramp", thus plunging the family into material discomfort. Pierre was then five years old. Reappearing from time to time (before being found dead in a ditch) this improbable father (he was not his biological father), left a deep mark in the young Herbart.
