Julien Cain (10 May 1887 – 9 October 1974) was the general administrator of the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

(then called the Bibliothèque nationale) before the

Occupation of France by Nazi Germany The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. In August 1937, Cain was one of the hosts of the first

World Congress of Universal Documentation The World Congress of Universal Documentation was held from 16 to 21 August 1937 in Paris, France. Delegates from 45 countries met to discuss means by which all of the world's information, in print, in manuscript, and in other forms, could be effi ...

, held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, which met to further the goal of creating a

World Brain ''World Brain'' is a collection of essays and addresses by the English science fiction pioneer, social reformer, evolutionary biologist and historian H. G. Wells, dating from the period of 1936–1938.Wells, H.G. (1938). ''World Brain''. Lond ...

, an idea championed by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

. In the summer of 1939, before the occupation began, he saw the impending danger clearly enough to order the evacuation of many of the library's most valuable items. Quite soon after the occupation began, Cain was removed from his post by the

Vichy government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

because he was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and replaced by collaborationist

Bernard Faÿ Bernard Faÿ (; 3 April 1893 – 31 December 1978) was a French historian of Franco-American relations, an anti-Masonic polemicist who believed in a worldwide Jewish-Freemason conspiracy (see: Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory) and during World ...

. In February, 1941, Cain was denounced in ''Le Matin'' and arrested. He was detained in French prisons until January 1944, when he was sent to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. He was freed by American forces in April, 1945, when the camp was liberated. He resumed the administratorship of the Bibliothèque nationale, which he held until 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Julien 1887 births 1974 deaths People from Montmorency, Val-d'Oise 20th-century French Jews Librarians from Paris Lycée Condorcet alumni Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres