Victor Basch

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Basch Viktor Vilém, or Victor-Guillaume Basch (August 18, 1863/1865, Budapest - January 10, 1944) was a Hungarian-French Jewish esthetician, politician, president of the Human Rights League (LDH) from 1926 to 1944. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Rennes.

He was born as son of Raphael Basch. Removing in childhood to France, he studied at the Sorbonne; in 1885 he was appointed professor at the University of Nancy, and in 1887 at the University of Rennes. During the Dreyfus affair he was the leader of the Dreyfusards at Rennes, who were placed in a serious and difficult position when the case was tried in that city. Basch as a Jew and a Dreyfusard was subjected to downright persecution at the hands of the fanatical anti-Semitic populace; but he championed the cause of his race and fought and suffered for the principles of legal and social justice.

He was killed by the Vichy French Milice, assisted by the Nazis.

[edit] Literary works

His published works include an important study:

• "(Essai critique sur) L'Esthétique de Kant", Paris, 1896; the first volume of a work in 4 volumes on the history of esthetics;
• "(La) Poétique de Schiller";
• "La Vie Intellectuelle à l'Etranger";
• "Les Origines de l'Individualisme Moderne"
• L'indivisualisme anarchiste, 1904
• Max Stirner, 1904
• Titian, 1927
• Essai d'esthétique de Kant, 1936
• He also contributes frequently to the "Siècle" and the "Grande Revue" of Paris.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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By Isidore Singer