Herman Leo Van Breda (born Leo Marie Karel; 28 February 1911, in Lier,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

– 3 March 1974, in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

) was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

, philosopher and founder of the Husserl Archives at the

Higher Institute of Philosophy The Institut supérieur de Philosophie (ISP) (French for: Higher Institute of Philosophy) is an independent research institute at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. It is a separate entity to the UCLouvain School o ...

of the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

in Belgium. On 19 August 1934, he was ordained as a priest and in 1936 he started studying

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he obtained a PhD degree in 1941 with a dissertation on the

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

. Later he became a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he stayed until his death in 1974.

Husserl archives

Van Breda saved the extensive writings and manuscripts of

from destruction by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s. For the preparation of his PhD thesis he traveled to

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1938, where he found, in the legacy of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), more than 40,000 '' Gabelsberger''

stenography Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...

manuscripts and his complete research library. The political situation in

at that time convinced him of the necessity to transport these manuscripts and Husserl's private library to

. In order to smuggle the documents out of

Germany, he needed the support not only of the rector of the Catholic University of Leuven, but also of the Belgian government. The Belgian Prime Minister at that time,

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman. Along with Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer he was a leader in the formation of the i ...

, allowed van Breda to bring the documents from Freiburg to the Belgian embassy in Berlin and diplomatic couriers to bring them to Leuven in Belgium. Van Breda also was able to convince Husserl's former assistants,

Eugen Fink Eugen Fink (11 December 1905 – 25 July 1975) was a German philosopher. Biography Fink was born in 1905 as the son of a government official in Germany. He spent his first school years with an uncle who was a Catholic priest. Fink attended a gra ...

and

Ludwig Landgrebe Ludwig Landgrebe (9 March 1902, Vienna – 14 August 1991, Cologne) was an Austrian phenomenologist and Professor of philosophy. He is the grandfather of award-winning German actor Max Landgrebe. Life Landgrebe studied philosophy, history ...

, to collaborate on the editing of these documents in Leuven. At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the documents were being kept in the university library in Leuven, which burned to ashes on 17 May 1940. Fortunately, one week before the fire, Van Breda decided to bring the documents to the Higher Institute of Philosophy. In 1943 the documents were, for safety, distributed over different locations in Leuven, including a shelter in the cellar of the Institute of Philosophy and the Abbey of Postel. After the war they were brought back to the Institute of Philosophy, where they form the basis for the

Husserliana The Husserliana is the complete works project of the philosopher Edmund Husserl (April 8, 1859 – April 27, 1938), which was made possible by Herman Van Breda after he saved the manuscripts of Husserl. The Husserliana is published by the Husserl A ...

, the complete works of Edmund Husserl. For his work on spreading Husserl's work he was awarded an

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

doctorate from the

Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

References

* Toon Horsten, ''De pater en de filosoof. De redding van het Husserl-archief.'' Uitg. Vrijdag, Antwerpen 2018. . *

External links

Husserl-Archives Leuven
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breda, Herman Van 1911 births 1974 deaths Flemish scientists Flemish philosophers 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni People from Lier, Belgium Université catholique de Louvain faculty Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Franciscan scholars

Husserl archives

See also

References

External links