Jean Fonteyne records

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society

Holding institution (official language):: Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines

Postal address:: Luchtvaartsquare 29 / Square de l’Aviation 29, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 556 92 11

Web address:: http://www.cegesoma.be/

Email:: cegesoma@cegesoma.be

Reference number:: CHRDWConS-Brussels-AA 693

Title:: Jean Fonteyne records

Title (official language):: Documenten Jean Fonteyne

Creator/accumulator:: Fonteyne, Jean

Date(s):: 1932/1973

Extent:: 20 folders

Scope and content:: In this fonds we note, among the “political files”, the file (no. 1.3.) concerning the request for naturalisation of the communist militant and syndicalist Israël Akkerman (1934). It consists of extracts of the judiciary file, correspondence etc. Nr. 4 contains documents (1945-1946) related to the Breendonk trial, including correspondence, an exposé of the facts, press clippings, various documents (i.a. on the composition of the civil party), etc. Nr. 3.5 contains correspondence (1973) concerning the case of the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie.

Administrative/biographical history:: Jean Fonteyne (1899-1974), born into a liberal family from Ledeberg, was doctor of law (1920) and lawyer. He joined the Belgian communist party (KPB) in 1934. He also belonged to the mixed Masonic lodge Le Droit Humain. Fonteyn was one of those Belgian progressive intellectuals who were heavily involved in supporting i.a. the working class, political refugees and the Spanish children and who fought against the advance of fascism. Fonteyne was a lawyer for the International Red Aid and the embassy of the USSR and he was active (often as a founder) in left wing social and cultural organisations such as Éducation par l’image, the Association révolutionnaire culturelle, the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes and others. He was especially interested in film – see for instance his role in the production of Misère au Borinage by Storck and Ivens. Right before and during the Second World War, Fonteyne was put to work in the clandestine structures of the Comintern and the French communist party. He was one of the founders of the resistance group and clandestine newspaper Justice Libre. In 1943 he was arrested and imprisoned in Breendonk and Buchenwald. Fonteyne became a senator for the KPB in 1946; he was a member of its Central Committee (1948-1951) and its Control Commission. In the mid 1960s he left the KPB, although he remained a communist and was still involved in i.a. actions for the right on abortion (as the lawyer of Dr. Willy Peers) and against the Vietnam war. (J. Gotovitch, “Fonteyne, Jean”, in Le Maitron Dictionnaire biographique, available on http://maitron-en-ligne.univ-paris1.fr/ ; J. Lemaitre, C’est un joli nom, camarade. Jean Fonteyne (1899-1974): avocat de l’Internationale communiste, Brussel, Aden, 2012.)

Access points: locations:: Breendonk

Access points: persons/families:: Akkerman, Israël; Fonteyne, Jean

Subject terms:: Communism; Communism--Communists; Correspondence; Freemasons; Jewish political activity; Nazism; Nazism--Nazis; Post-WWII trials; Professions; Professions--Lawyers; War crimes

Access, restrictions:: J. Gotovitch, Papiers Jean Fonteyne, Brussel, CEGESOMA, 1992 (list AA 693). The fonds is also described in the database of the CEGESOMA – see http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/plsp.getplsdoc?lan=N&htdoc=general/opac.htm.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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