Louis Pierre Althusser was one of the most influential French Marxist philosophers of the 20th century. Born into a pied-noir petit-bourgeois family in Algeria, he gained admission to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris at the age of 21. However, his academic pursuits were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Althusser was drafted into the French Army and spent the war years in a German prisoner-of-war camp. After his release, he re-entered ENS to resume his studies. Despite struggles with physical and mental health issues, he graduated with commendable results. He subsequently joined his alma mater as the Director of Studies and later served as the Secretary of the Literary School. Concurrently, Althusser became an active member of the French Communist Party, where he produced several influential works that cemented his reputation as a prominent Marxist thinker. Althusser taught at ENS for over 30 years, influencing an entire generation of French philosophers and intellectuals. Among his notable students were Alain Badiou, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Serres. He is remembered for his contributions to Marxist theory, particularly his structuralist interpretations of Marx and his theories of ideology and ideological state apparatuses.