Théodore Reinach (3 July 186028 October 1928) was a French

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

, papyrologist,

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

epigrapher Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

, and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

Academic career

Educated at the

Lycée Condorcet The Lycée Condorcet () is a school founded in 1803 in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's 9th arrondissement. It is one of the four oldest high schools in Paris and also one of the most prestigious. Since its inception, var ...

, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Ecole des Sciences Politiques, Reinach had a brilliant career as a scholar and was called to the

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. Si ...

ian bar where he practised from 1881 to 1886 but eventually devoted himself to the study of

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inc ...

. He became Chair in ancient

at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

and was a director of various journals. In 1916, he was awarded the

medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society was first awarded in 1883. It is awarded by the Royal Numismatic Society and is one of the highest markers of recognition given to numismatists. The President and Council award the Medal annually to an "in ...

and in 1917, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he worked on assignment in the United States. He wrote important works on the ancient kingdoms of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

: (1888), (1890); (Paris), and also a critical edition and translation with

Henri Weil Henri Weil (August 27, 1818 – November 5, 1909) was a French philologist. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Frankfurt, he was educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig. He went to France, and continued his studies at Paris, ...

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

's ''Treatise on Music''; and an (2nd ed., 1901). From 1888 to 1897 Théodore Reinach edited the ''.'' He received an honorary

Doctorate of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(D.Litt.) from the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dub ...

in June 1902. Théodore Reinach was president of the French association of musicologists Société française de musicologie in 1928.

Family and Villa Kerylos

In 1886, Reinach married Charlotte Marie Evelyne Hirsch. They had two daughters but she died at age twenty-six in 1889. Reinach married a second time in 1891 to Fanny Kann, a daughter of Maximilien Kann and Betty Ephrussi. They made their home in a chateau at

La Motte-Servolex La Motte-Servolex (; frp, La Mota-Cèrvolê) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is part of the urban area of Chambéry.Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...

department in southeastern France. As a resident there, Reinach was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies of France Chamber of Deputies (french: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of ...

as a member of the

Bloc des gauches The Lefts Bloc (french: Bloc des gauches, ) was a coalition of Republican political forces created during the French Third Republic in 1899 to contest the 1902 legislative elections. It initially supported Emile Combes's cabinet (June 1902-J ...

, serving from 1906 to 1914. The Reinachs spent time on the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from ...

and in 1902 hired the architect

Emmanuel Pontremoli Emmanuel Pontremoli (13 January 1865 – 25 July 1956) was a French architect and archaeologist. Biography Born in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, a student in the ''atelier'' of Louis-Jules André, in 1890 he won the Prix de Rome in the architect ...

to design a villa at

Beaulieu-sur-Mer Beaulieu-sur-Mer (; oc, Bèuluec de Mar; it, Belluogo; "Beautiful Place on the Sea"), commonly referred to simply as Beaulieu, is a seaside commune on the French Riviera between Nice and the Principality of Monaco. Located in the Alpes-Ma ...

. Completed in 1908 the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

-style property was named

Villa Kerylos Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, is a house in Ancient Greek Revival style built in the early 1900s by French archaeologist Theodore Reinach. It has been listed since 1966 as a ''monument historique'' by the French Ministry of Cultur ...

. Fanny Reinach died in 1917 and Theodore in 1928. He was a member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...

and on his death he bequeathed the Villa Kerylos to the Institut. Reinach's son, Léon (1893–1943), became the keeper of the archives at Villa Kerylos. Léon Reinach was married to Béatrice de Camondo with whom he had two children. Following the

German occupation of France during World War II 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 ...

, the Villa was seized 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 and Léon and Béatrice Reinach and their two children were sent to

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. I ...

where they were

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

ed. After the War, other of the Reinach children and grandchildren continued to live there until 1967. Today, the Villa Kerylos is a museum open to the public. Fanny Reinach's mother was a member of the Ephrussi family whose cousin Maurice was married to Béatrice de Rothschild. Inspired by the beauty of the Reinach's Villa Grecque Kérylos and the area, nearby they built

Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, also called Villa Île-de-France, is a French seaside villa located at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. Designed by the French architect Aaron Messiah, it was built between 1907 and 1912 by Baroness ...

References

Sources

Théodore Reinach at the Jewish Encyclopedia.com

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinach, Theodore 1860 births 1928 deaths People from Saint-Germain-en-Laye French people of German-Jewish descent Jewish French politicians Politicians from Île-de-France Independent Radical politicians Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic 19th-century French lawyers 19th-century French mathematicians French archaeologists 19th-century French historians 20th-century French historians 19th-century French musicologists 20th-century French musicologists French philologists French male non-fiction writers Ephrussi family Lycée Condorcet alumni Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Presidents of the Société française de musicologie 19th-century musicologists Papyrologists