{"id":648,"date":"2015-09-25T13:50:14","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T12:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cish.org\/?page_id=648"},"modified":"2015-09-25T13:52:39","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T12:52:39","slug":"necrology-francois-bedarida","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/en\/presentation\/archives-history\/necrology-francois-bedarida\/","title":{"rendered":"Necrology – Fran\u00e7ois B\u00e9darida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fran\u00e7ois B\u00e9darida died at the age of 75 on September 16, 2001, at Fontaine-le-Port, near Paris. During the last 10 years of his life he was a tireless advocate for the ideals of the International Committee of Historical Sciences. His remarkably multifaceted career was characterized by a rare and steadfast commitment to his vision of history and of the role of historians, a commitment which bore the stamp of scientific, moral, and civic concerns. Starting out as a historian of Victorian England, he then directed his efforts to the study of 20th-century France. As he worked on the dark period of French history that was World War II he came to advocate the social and scientific responsibilities of the historian. Convinced of the need to \u201chistoricize the Resistance\u201d and led by his strong belief in the necessity of telling the truth, he never hesitated to use the critical tools of history to confront the various memories of that period. Mr. B\u00e9darida was involved in controversy\u2014the Touvier affair, among others. He testified in court as a historian, and the scientific community benefited from his experience as he increasingly focussed on epistemological questions such as the historian\u2019s social, moral and civic responsibilities, and as he highlighted the fundamental importance of the history-memory relationship for historical knowledge.<\/p>\n

Born on March 14, 1926 in Lyon, the son of an academic, Fran\u00e7ois B\u00e9darida moved to Paris with his parents as a youth and completed his studies there. After attending the Montaigne, Louis-le-Grand and Henri IV lyc\u00e9es, he joined clandestine Resistance groups. It was during that time that he met the love of his life, Ren\u00e9e M\u00e9ly, in 1943. They married in 1949. His deeply held faith led him to the “T\u00e9moignage Chr\u00e9tien” movement to which he gave a commitment that would never falter throughout the course of his life. He graduated (agr\u00e9gation) from the \u00c9cole normale sup\u00e9rieure in 1949.<\/p>\n

\"\"His career began in Marseille, where he taught briefly at Lyc\u00e9e Thiers, but before long he was bound for the United Kingdom. After teaching in the U.K. at the Institut fran\u00e7ais from 1950 to 1956 and working as a research associate at the CNRS from 1956 to 1959, he became an assistant professor of modern and contemporary history at La Sorbonne (1961-1966). In 1966 Mr. B\u00e9darida returned to Great Britain and received a Master of Arts degree from Oxford. He managed la Maison fran\u00e7aise from 1966 to 1970, and, he became an acclaimed specialist of 19th-century British history, publishing some notable works.<\/p>\n

As Ma\u00eetre de conf\u00e9rences at the Institut d\u2019\u00e9tudes politiques de Paris from 1971 to 1978, he studied the history of contemporary French society and founded the Institut d\u2019histoire du Temps pr\u00e9sent. He was the Institut\u2019s first director, serving from 1978 to 1990. He used this platform to promote work on the history of wartime France, and devoted his own research entirely to the subject. The work he accomplished, whether alone or collaboratively, advanced the knowledge of that period and produced publications which had a significant impact on French historiography. Professor B\u00e9darida was named Directeur de recherches of the CNRS in 1979, and then Emeritus Research Director in 1995. Towards the end of his career he returned to his earlier interests and in 1999 he published an outstanding biography of Churchill. In 2001 he edited, together with his wife, Ren\u00e9e B\u00e9darida, La r\u00e9sistance spirituelle 1941-1944<\/em>, Les Cahiers clandestins de T\u00e9moignage chr\u00e9tien<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1990, he became Secretary General of the International Committee of Historical Sciences. He tackled his new duties with his usual enthusiasm, vigour and generosity of spirit, drawing on his scientific abilities, his considerable historical culture, and on his knowledge of the historical profession. He worked relentlessly to modernize the ICHS and the workings of its international congresses. As the International Committee\u2019s life force he expended his energy on all fronts, from his duties as Secretary General to those of architect of one of the Congress\u2019s major themes. He worked at getting the ICHS to adopt a world-wide perspective and was the editor of a special issue of Diog\u00e8ne on the historian\u2019s social responsibility. His deep conviction of the soundness of the ICHS\u2019s core values fuelled his tireless advocacy of international cooperation and of the establishment of a scientific exchange network in which all countries would receive equitable treatment. For 10 years he was the lifeblood of the ICHS, providing members with food for thought by the rich, detailed reports he read at each general assembly and by his efforts to focus the ICHS\u2019s initiatives on developing history as a profession and fostering openness to the world. Professor B\u00e9darida\u2019s passion for studying the relationship between history and memory, coupled with his conviction that both factors exert an influence on the life of organizations, led him to examine the history of the ICHS, uncover archives, and interview a former secretary general about the history of the Committee\u2019s first half century. He published his findings in the ICHS Bulletin between 1992 and 2000. His integrity, his deep sense of responsibility and his exacting professional conscience are in large part responsible for the good health of the ICHS and for the success of the 1995 Montreal and 2000 Oslo Congresses. Professor B\u00e9darida\u2019s last report on his ten years as Secretary General, which was read during the 2000 Congress and published in the Bulletin (2001), is a profound and stimulating assessment that the entire ICHS might consider his final legacy. May the ICHS find inspiration in this document for years to come!<\/p>\n

Francois B\u00e9darida was remarkable for his unshaken faith in the historian\u2019s work and his respect of certain fundamental moral values. He was a Chevalier of the L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur and an Officer of l\u2019Ordre national du m\u00e9rite. He is survived by his wife and three children.<\/p>\n

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Fran\u00e7ois B\u00e9darida died at the age of 75 on September 16, 2001, at Fontaine-le-Port, near Paris. During the last 10 years of his life he was a tireless advocate for the ideals of the International Committee of Historical Sciences. His remarkably multifaceted career was characterized by a rare and steadfast commitment to his vision of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":511,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-648","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/648\/revisions\/651"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cish.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}