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.

His father was the journalist and political activist, Raphael Basch. Born in Budapest in 1863, Victor Basch emigrated with his family to France as a child. Basch later studied at the Sorbonne. In 1885 he was appointed professor at the University of Nancy, and in 1887 at the University of Rennes, where he became friends with Jean Jaures. During the Dreyfus affair Basch 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. Both as a Jew and a Dreyfusard, Basch was subjected to persecution at the hands of the fanatical anti-Semitic populace. In a 1916 interview cited by his biographer and granddaughter, the French historian Francoise Basch, Victor Basch declared, "Je suis vraiment un juif. J'ai lutte et souffert pour ma judeite."^[1] However, biographer Francoise Basch underscores that her grandfather identified with his family history and the suffering of persecuted Jews, and not with Judaism as a religion per se. As both a member of the League against Imperialism created in Brussels in 1927, and as President of the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme from 1926-1944, Basch was one of the architects of the Popular Front. He fought and suffered for the principles of legal and social justice, and human rights.

On January 10, 1944, Victor Basch and his wife, Ilona Basch (nee Helene Furth), were taken from their home in Lyon and assassinated by the Vichy French Milice under orders of the chief, Lecussan.

[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 article "Victor Basch" by Isidore Singer, a publication now in the public domain.
- Basch, Francoise. Victor Basch: de l'affaire Dreyfus au crime de la milice. Librairie Plon. Paris: 1994.