Early life of Habib Bourguiba food caused by deprivation on the initiative of the school headmaster who supported a War effort, worsened the boy's health. In addition, Bourguiba was hospitalized because of a primary infection, which led him to abandon high school and remain at the hospital. During the 1973 conference he held, he described that illness he had saying: "The sixth year was the final one, the diploma year of deliverance. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Tunisia, I fall ill in the last two months". To heal and get better, Bourguiba's family sent young Habib to his brother Mohamed in Kef and therefore, enjoy natural
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,