Marc Schreiber papers

Collection description

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)

Scope and content:: This fonds mainly contains documents related to the activities of Schreiber in London during the Second World War. We find correspondence, notes, minutes of meetings (i.a. of the Inter-Allied Information Committee), press releases, texts, invitations, documentation (press cuttings, publications), etc. on various topics such as Belgian propaganda, radio broadcasts in general and the Belgian broadcasts of the BBC in particular, the Belgian navy, various organisations (e.g. the New Europa Circle, CEPAG, INBEL), etc. We also note a file on the ‘Jewish question’ (no. 13).

Administrative/biographical history:: Marc Schreiber (1915-1979) was born in Galicia, in the former Russian Empire. His family migrated to Belgium. Schreiber first went to school in the Koninklijk Atheneum in Antwerp, then tudied letters and philosophy (1935) as well as political science (1937) and obtained a PhD in law in 1938. He worked as a lawyer attached to the Bar in Brussels and was also a research assistant at the Institut de Sociologie Solvay. During the Second World War he worked as the deputy director for the Belgian broadcasts of the BBC (1940-1941), as the chief of the cabinet of Paul-Henri Spaak (1941-1943) and for the Service des Questions de Règlement de la Paix et de l’Organisation Internationale (1943-1945). After the war Schreiber held senior positions at the United Nations, i.a. deputy director of its legal department (1953-1966), director of the United Nations Information Centre (1960-1961) and director of the Human Rights Department (1966-1977). In addition, Marc Schreiber was often invited as a guest lecturer and speaker, i.a. at the ULB/VUB, the Free School for Advanced Studies (New York) and the universities of Columbia, Cambridge, Berkeley, Strasbourg, Moscow and The Hague. (J.-P. Schreiber, “Schreiber, Marc”, in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Brussel, De Boeck, 2002, p. 311.)

Subject terms:: Correspondence; Jewish Question; Professions; Professions--Lawyers; Professions--Scholars (secular), scientists, and academics; Radio and television; World War II

Finding aids:: M. Vanbergen, Papiers Marc Schreiber: Londres 1940-1944, Brussel, CEGESOMA, s.d. (list AA 857). The fonds is also described in the database of the CEGESOMA.

Links to finding aids:: http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/plsp.getplsdoc?lan=N&htdoc=general/opac.htm