Documents of Etienne-Sadi Kirschen

Collection

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 concerns the Piron Brigade. We note i.a. excerpts from the autobiography of Etienne Kirschen, leaflets, annotated texts, press cuttings, photocopies of articles on the Piron Brigade, historical notes on the Brigade, etc.

Archival history:: Donation by Jacqueline Kirschen, via José Gotovitch (2007).

Administrative/biographical history:: Etienne-Sadi Kirschen (1913-2000) was born in Brussels in 1913. He studied at the ULB and obtained a degree in civil engineering as well as a PhD in law. During the Second World War, Kirschen fought in the Piron Brigade, i.a. in the liberation of Brussels in September 1944. He had a flourishing academic career: Kirschen was a professor at the École de Commerce Solvay and visiting lecturer at the universities of Belgrade, Florence and Columbia. He was one of the founders of the department of applied economics at the ULB in 1957. He founded, with Prof. Ganshof van der Meersch, the Institut des Études européennes. In addition to this, Kirschen also worked as an auditor of banks and companies and was the president of the Académie royale des Sciences et Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. (J. Wiener-Henrion, “Kirschen, Édouard”, in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Brussel, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 194-195.)

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