Metadata: Chaïm Perelman papers
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Archives of the Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles
- Postal address:
- Campus du Solbosch AX1.222, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50 / Franklin Rooseveltlaan 50, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 02/650.35.66
- Email:
- archives@ulb.ac.be
- Reference number:
- ArUnLib-Brussels-89PP
- Title:
- Chaïm Perelman papers
- Title (official language):
- Papiers Chaïm Perelman
- Creator/accumulator:
- Perelman, Chaïm
- Date(s):
- 1930/1984
- Language:
- French
- Polish
- English
- Extent:
- 42 boxes
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains documents related to Perleman’s academic activities (such as correspondence, minutes of meetings of the faculty ca. 1957-1980), material related to his extra-curricular activities (in particular within the Centre national de Recherche de Logique, the Centre de Philosophie du Droit and the Institut d’Études du Judaïsme), documents concerning the scientific organisations of which he was a member (i.a. the Fédération internationale des sociétés de philosophie, the Fondation Universitaire, the Institut des Hautes études de Belgique, the Société belge de philosophie, the Société belge de logique et de philosophie des sciences, the Revue internationale de philosophie, the Association internationale de philosophie du droit et de philosophie sociale, the Institut international de philosophie), material regarding his scientific activities (i.a. about his publications, the university, symposia, conferences, awards and prizes, etc.), and especially scientific correspondence (over 20,000 letters) with major figures of 20th century thought such as Hans-Georg Gadamer, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Karl R. Popper, Paul Ricoeur, Eric Weil and Norbeto Bobbio. We also find a rich series of correspondence with his relatives and friends (such as Léo Apostel, Henri Janne), with jurists, psychologists, sociologists, epistemologists, educators and philosophers. In addition the fonds contains various documents and correspondence related to Jewish organisations such as the Amicale du Comité de défense des Juifs, the Amis de la jeunesse juive, the Centrale d’œuvres sociales juives, the Comité d’hommage des Juifs de Belgique, the Conférence permanente des services communautaires juifs en Europe, Keren Hayesod, Menorah, the World Zionist Organisation and the Association des Amis belges de l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem.
- Archival history:
- The archives were transferred to the ULB by Fela Perelman after the decease of her husband.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Chaïm Perelman was born in Warsaw in 1912. He moved to Belgium with his relatives in 1925. He was a brilliant student and entered the Université Libre de Bruxelles at the age of sixteen. He was active in the Association des Étudiants juifs and obtained a law degree in 1933. He chose an academic career that suited his talent; his PhD won the first prize from the university. He went to study in Warsaw for a year, where he associated himself with the Polish logician Kotarbinski. Perelman became an assistant and later also lecturer. He was involved in the Zionist movement in Belgium, together with Léon Kubowitzki. He acquired Belgian nationality in 1936. In October 1940 he was affected by the ordinance of the occupier which forbade Jews to exercise the function of professor. During the war, he associated with other Jewish and/or anti-German professors. Chaïm Perelman became the expert in educational matters for the Association des Juifs en Belgique from January 1942 and was assigned to the Education section in December of the same year. He took over the direction of the social service of the AJB after the arrest of Maurice Heiber in May 1943. Chaïm Perelman was one of the founders and driving forces behind the Comité de Défense des Juifs (CDJ) in the summer of 1942. After the Liberation, Perelman became heavily involved in the Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre (AIVG), the successor of the CDJ, until November 1945. He was also in charge of editing Ofipresse. In November 1945 he was appointed professor at the Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres at the ULB. He created the Jewish Refugees Welfare Society, a legal organisation which permitted Fela Perelman, his wife, to establish an illegal migration network to help Shoah survivors who wanted to reach Palestine. Perelman was among the founders as well as the first secretary-general of the Amis belges de l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem. In 1955 he created Menorah, an association that organised many activities and conferences with the goal of promoting Jewish culture and education. Chaïm Perelman was also the president (in 1959) of the Magbit (Keren Hayesod) and the vice president of the Association des Amitiés belgo-israéliennes. Alongside his commitment in the Jewish community, he had a brilliant academic and scientific career. He was internationally renowned; he notably won the Prix Francqui for his research in 1962. His principal work, the Traité de l’argumentation, published in Paris in 1958, was translated in many languages. This work formed the basis of the New Rhetoric school of thought. Perelman synthesised his theory of argumentation in Empire rhétorique (Paris, 1977). Chaïm Perelman held many functions as expert, counsellor, member of various commissions and editing committees. He lectured at many European universities and received the title of doctor honoris causa several times. In addition he became the president of the scientific committee of the Institut d’Études du Judaïsme in 1972 and was the head of the Comité d’Action pour Israël. He was ennobled shortly before his death in Brussels in 1984. (J.-P. Schreiber, "Perelman, Chaïm", in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 271-274.)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Access points: persons/families:
- Perelman, Chaim
- Access, restrictions:
- Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
- Finding aids:
- Inventaire du Fonds Chaïm Perelman BE ULB 8+ PP, 2012. This inventory notably contains an alphabetical list of articles and publications as well as an alphabetical index of correspondents.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
