Metadata: Nico Gunzburg archives
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- House of Literature
- Holding institution (official language):
- Letterenhuis
- Postal address:
- Minderbroedersstraat 22, 2000 Antwerpen
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)3 222 93 20
- Web address:
- http://www.letterenhuis.be/
- Reference number:
- HLit-Antwerp-G975
- Title:
- Nico Gunzburg archives
- Title (official language):
- Archief van Nico Gunzburg
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gunzburg, Nicolas Kalman Noah
- Date(s):
- 1912/1980
- Extent:
- 4.185 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds we firstly note the manuscripts written by Gunzburg. We note literary texts such as songs, stories (i.a. Het Proces van Water en Vuur), poems, novels (i.a. Het Boek Ruth and Vitriooldrama in het Park), prose but also his Braziliaans Reisdagboek. Furthermore, we find journalistic and academic literature concerning law and criminology as well as two binders with texts concerning Israel and Judaism. The fonds also contains Gunzburg’s correspondence, including a folder with correspondence with the Centraal Beheer van Joodse Weldadigheid en Maatschappelijk Hulpbetoon. Among the collected material we note various personal documents such as résumés, autobiographical notes, bookkeeping documents, material concerning Gunzburg’s law firm, etc. Lastly, we note other collected material such as pictures (around twenty of Gunzburg himself), publications regarding Freemasonry and various documentation.
- Archival history:
- Donation by José Gunzburg (2008).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Nicolas Kalman Noah Gunzburg was one of the most well-known figures of the Belgian Jewish community. He became a flamingant at an early age – see his function as the president of the student society Geen Taal, geen Vrijheid and the establishment (with Frans Van Cauwelaert) of the Hoogstudenten Verbond. Gunzburg held a PhD in law (1906) and would be associated with the Bar in Antwerp for a long time. He was a war volunteer at the outbreak of the First World War. After the fall of Antwerp, he arrived in Le Havre and London, where he would become the secretary of minister Paul Hymans, and he developed contacts with Lord Balfour and known Zionists such as Weizmann, Sokolow and Ussishkin. After the war Gunzburg began a flourishing academic career, first as a lecturer in constitutional law in Antwerp and from 1913 at Ghent University. He was i.a. professor and dean of the Law Faculty (1923) and established the Instituut voor Criminologie (1938), of which he became the president in 1939. Gunzburg is most well known for his legal works on i.a. youth delinquency, legal protection of minors, reform of prison law, marriage law, etc. He was, as one of the initiators and secretary-general of the Commissie ter Vervlaamsching der Gentse Hoogeschool (1919), a very ardent proponent of making Dutch the standard language of Ghent University. Gunzburg played a leading role in the campaign for introducing Dutch as a juridical language. He was not only the president of the association of Flemish jurists but also a member (since 1923) of the Commissie Van Dievoet, charged with translating the Belgian Constitution and legislation into Dutch. After the German attack in May 1940, Gunzburg reached Brazil via Toulouse and Lisbon; he would teach there for a while at the university in Rio de Janeiro. In 1941 he moved to the United States, where he worked i.a. as attaché at the Belgian embassy and the Office of War Information in Washington, as contributor of the program The Belgian Desk of the radio station Voice of America, as visiting professor at the university of Syracuse and the Institut franco-belge. Gunzburg was also part of the International Lawyers Committee for the Punishment of War Criminals, charged with preparing the Nuremberg trials. In 1945 he returned to Belgium as an UNRRA officer. Having achieved emeritus status (1952), Gunzburg taught criminology at the universities of Jakarta and Jogjakarta in Indonesia (1953-1956); he became an advisor to president Soekarno. Gunzburg was very active in Jewish associational life, often as a founder or board member – i.a. in the Verbond voor Economisch Verweer Antwerpen (VEVA), Beth Hacholim (1927-1940), Comité d’Aide aux Juifs polonais, the Amis belges de l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, the Société pour l’Étude de l’Histoire du Judaïsme belge, as president (1947-1950) of the Raad van Joodse Verenigingen in België, ... He was the founder of the Centraal Beheer van Joodse Weldadigheid en Maatschappelijk Hulpbetoon (1920), an umbrella organisation of Jewish charities in Antwerp. Gunzburg was a board member of the Centrale, as vice president (1920-1924) and president (1925-1940). He was also a Freemason, member of the Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde lodge in Antwerp. Gunzburg’s contribution to the Flemish cause is mainly a result of his legal work, but he was also active in Dutch literature, as a commentator in the press but especially as an author and poet. He was a member of the Willemsfonds and the literary circle De Distel, and was associated with figures such as Cyriel Buysse, Stijn Streuvels and Herman Teirlinck. Nico Gunzburg published various poetry collections, stories, articles and a novel, the autobiographically inspired Het Boek Ruth (1963). (Z. Hermon, “Gunzburg, Niko” in M. Berenbaum & F. Skolnik (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition, Detroit, Gale, 2007, vol. 8, p. 138; E. Wulliger & J.-P. Schreiber, “Gunzburg, Nicolas Kalman Noah dit Nico”, in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Brussel, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 146-148.)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Gunzburg, Nico
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation requires the authorisation of Marianne Haverhals-Gunzburg; contact the Letterenhuis for more information.
- Finding aids:
- The fonds is described in the Agrippa database of the Letterenhuis.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
