Habib Bourguiba studies from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. In August 1927, Bourguiba who was 26 at the time, returned to Tunisia, with his girlfriend, his son, Habib Jr. but also a deep knowledge of French politics during the Third Republic. His journey in France had influenced his thinking with the liberal values of the social-radical secular country, shared earlier by his brother Mohamed. Following his come back in Tunisia, he married Mathilde, while Mahmoud Laribi was his best man and settled in Tunis. At the time, he was not interested in politics but in his professional career, every debuting lawyer
Habib Bourguiba Bourguiba was transferred on board of a destroyer, into the fort of Saint-Nicolas in Marseille on 26 May 1940. There he shared his cell with Hédi Nouira. Convinced that the war would end with the victory of the Allies, he wrote a letter to Habib Thameur, on 10 August 1942, to define his positions: He was transferred to Lyon and imprisoned in Montluc prison on 18 November 1942 then in Fort de Vancia until Klaus Barbie decided to free him and take him to Chalon-sur-Saône. He was greatly welcomed in Rome, alongside Ben Youssef and Ben Slimane, in January 1943,