Pierre Bertaux (8 October 1907 in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
– 14 August 1986 in
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthiest tow ...
,
Hauts-de-Seine) was a noted French resistance fighter and scholar of
German literature. While holding administrative positions, he also wrote on
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...
. He participated in the French resistance in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
, where he imposed
Charles De Gaulle's authority during the
liberation of France
The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance.
Nazi Germany inv ...
. After the war he was a high-ranking police officer.
In 1968 he founded a Department of
German Language and Literature at the New
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in
Asnières. In 1970 he received the
Goethe Medal
The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...
, and in 1975 the
Heinrich Heine prize of the city of
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
.
He had three sons, two of whom have become renowned academics on their own right:
Daniel Bertaux and
Jean-Loup Bertaux.
Work
;French
*''Hölderlin, Essai de biographie intérieure'', Paris, Hachette, 1936
*La mutation humaine, 1964
*La libération de Toulouse et de sa région, éd. Hachette, 1973
*''Hölderlin ou le temps d'un poète'', Paris, Gallimard, 1983
*''Mémoires interrompus'' par Pierre Bertaux, Hansgerd Schulte, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2000
*Un normalien à Berlin, lettres 1927 1933
;German
* ''Friedrich Hölderlin''. Frankfurt/Main 1981 und 2000
* ''Hölderlin und die Französische Revolution''. Frankfurt/Main 1969, Berlin 1990
* ''Afrika. Von der Vorgeschichte bis zu den Staaten der Gegenwart''. Frankfurt/M. 1966
* ''Mutation der Menschheit - Diagnosen und Prognosen''. Frankfurt/M. 1963
External links
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertaux, Pierre
1907 births
1986 deaths
Germanists
Senators of French Sudan