Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jean Beaufret (1907-1982) was a French philosopher and Germanist who played a central role in introducing Martin Heidegger's work to France. He is considered the wellspring of orthodox French Heideggerianism and was described as a legendary professor who trained generations of students and future professors.
Heidegger wrote the Letter on Humanism (Brief über den Humanismus) directly to Beaufret in 1946, in response to Beaufret engaging him on the development of French existentialism. The letter became a foundational text in postwar European philosophy.
Lyotard, who was among the students Beaufret brought to visit Heidegger at Todtnauberg in 1947, described "a sly peasant in his Hütte, dressed in traditional costume, of sententious speech and shifty eye." He recorded this account in Heidegger and 'the Jews': a Conference in Vienna and Freiburg, published in his Political Writings.
In a 1978 letter to Faurisson, Beaufret wrote that he had "traveled approximately the same path" as Faurisson and had "expressed the same doubts concerning the existence of the gas chambers," adding that "fortunately for me, this was done orally." The letter was revealed after the 1987 French publication of Victor Farías's book Heidegger and Nazism.
Beaufret and Heidegger first made each other's acquaintance in 1946, at the moment when Heidegger's teaching privileges were under scrutiny from postwar denazification committees. Beaufret initiated contact by engaging Heidegger on the development of French existentialism.
It was through Beaufret that Heidegger became aware of Jacques Derrida's work. Beaufret remained a close associate of Heidegger's for many years and served as a key conduit between the German philosopher and the broader French intellectual world.