Joseph Hackin (8 November 1886,

Boevange-sur-Attert Boevange-sur-Attert (, literally ''Boevange on Attert''; lb, Béiwen-Atert; german: Böwingen/Attert) is a small town in central Luxembourg, in the canton of Mersch. It is situated on the river Attert. Until 31 December 2017, it was a commune. O ...

– 24 February 1941) was a French archaeologist and Resistance member. He was a curator at the

Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...

and explored

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 1923 with

Alfred Foucher Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher (1865–1952), was a French scholar, who argued that the Buddha image has Greek origins. He has been called the "father of Gandhara studies", and is a much-cited scholar on ancient Buddhism in northwest Indian subcont ...

and Andre Godard.

Biography

Born in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, he graduated from the

Ecole libre des sciences politiques , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

and the

École des langues orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales ( en, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French university specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. ...

, Paris. He acquired French nationality in 1912. Initially, he was an assistant curator of the

and later became the curator. In 1931, he participated in the Yellow Expedition. After several archaeological missions in Afghanistan, he was appointed director of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan in 1934. During the excavations conducted by Hackin and his team in

Begram Bagram (; Pashto/ fa, بگرام) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir V ...

, between 1937 and 1940, an exceptional treasure of the

Kushan The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...

period (1st–2nd century A.D.) was unearthed. It included a large number of Roman bronze, alabaster, Syrian glass, coins, Chinese lacquer bowls, and the famous "

Begram ivories The Begram ivories are a group of over a thousand decorative plaques, small figures and inlays, carved from ivory and bone, and formerly attached to wooden furniture, that were excavated in the 1930s in Bagram (Begram), Afghanistan. They are rare ...

". In October 1940, with his wife,

Marie Hackin Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...

, he joined the

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

Forces in London. He was appointed as the personal representative of

General de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

in India and surrounding countries. He perished with his wife when their transport ship, "Jonathan Holt", was sunk by a German torpedo near the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, 24 February 1941.Exhibition : ''De l'Asie à la France libre. Joseph et Marie Hackin, archéologues et compagnons de la Libération'', Paris, 15 June–16 September 2018 (Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération, Musée de l'Armée, Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet).

Decorations

Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort d ...

* Chevalier de la

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

Compagnon de la Libération The Order of Liberation (french: Ordre de la Libération) is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the ''Légion d’Honneur'' (Legion of Honour) ...

References

External links

* French Resistance members 1886 births 1941 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists People from Mersch (canton) Luxembourgian emigrants to France French explorers {{France-scientist-stub