Jack Mathieu Émile Lang (; born 2 September 1939) is a French politician. A member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, he served as

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993, as well as Minister of National Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

from 1989 until his resignation in 2000. Lang is best known for originating the

Fête de la Musique The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborho ...

in 1982 as Culture Minister, an all day public music festival which occurs yearly on 21 June in France and throughout the world. Since 2013 he has been president of the

Arab World Institute The ''Institut du Monde Arabe'', French for Arab World Institute, abbreviated ''IMA'', is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by France with 18 Arab countries to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural an ...

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 ...

Early life

Jack Lang was born to Roger Lang and Marie-Luce Bouchet in

Mirecourt Mirecourt () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the Violin family. Inhabitants are called Mirecurtiens. ...

, in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

. His father's family were a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

, assimilated, well-to-do

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 ...

family based in Nancy. Roger Lang was the commercial manager of the family business which was founded by Jack's grandfather Albert. Roger and Albert were both

freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. Jack's mother, Marie-Luce Bouchet, a Catholic, was born in 1919 as the daughter of Emile Bouchet, who died in 1926, and Berthe Boulanger, a nurse who was also a freemason. In 1938, Albert and Roger sent their wives to Vichy because of the threat of war with Germany. After the German invasion, Albert Lang and his wife moved to

Brive-la-Gaillarde Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 7 ...

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ...

. The very young Jack and his mother went to stay with his great grandmother (the mother of Berthe Boulanger) in Cholet and subsequently moved to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. His father Roger was first mobilized in Luneville, and then joined his parents and his brother-in-law Luc Bouchet in Brive. Jack and his mother also joined them in Brive after the bombing of Bordeaux. Jack Lang's father was sentenced by the court in Brive for failure to report his children as Jews, but was later acquitted by the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

on the ground that the children's mother was a Catholic. He had followed the advice of the rabbi of Brive, David Feuerwerker. Roger Lang was nevertheless placed under house arrest. Berthe Bouchet (Boulanger) visited the Langs in April 1942 when her daughter was about to give birth to her third child, Marianne. In 1943, Berthe was arrested in Nancy by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

for acts of propaganda and resistance. She was deported to Ravensbrück and died in the spring of 1945. Jack Lang studied political science at the

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

, and went on to receive a postgraduate degree in public law. His career then focused on a combination of teaching and culture and the arts. He was the founder and producer of Festival du Monde in Nancy, was director of the Nancy University Theatre from 1963 to 1972, and then director of the

Théâtre national de Chaillot The Théâtre National de Chaillot (English: Chaillot National Theatre) is a theatre located in the Palais de Chaillot at 1, place du Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Close by the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadéro Gardens—the Th ...

from 1972 to 1974. At the same time he was a professor of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

from 1971 to 1981 at Nancy University and then Paris Nanterre University. He married Monique Buczynski in 1961. The couple have two daughters. In 1997, he was President of Jury to the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. Jack Lang by Olivier Meyer in January 2019

Jack Lang by Olivier Meyer in January 2019

Politics

Lang entered politics as a Socialist member of the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

from Paris in 1977. He is best known for having served as

(22 May 1981 – 19 March 1986 and 13 May 1988 – 29 March 1993) and as Minister of Education (3 April 1992 – 29 March 1993 and 27 March 2000 – 5 May 2002). In 1981, while Minister of Culture, he created the

, a massive celebration of music held on 21 June each year, where many amateur musicians give free open-air performances. He is the co-founder and president of the

Union of the Theatres of Europe The Union of European Theatres (UTE; french: Union des Théâtres de l'Europe) is an alliance of European public theatres. It serves to promote European integration through cultural interaction. It does intensive transnational theatre work compr ...

. In August 1981, he created the

Lang Law Lang Law is the informal name given to French law number 81-766, from 10 August 1981, which establishes a fixed price for books sold in France and limits price discounts on them. The law is named after Jack Lang, the French Minister of Culture res ...

, which allows publishers to enforce a minimum sale price for books. In the 80s he contributed to the creation of the

Europe Theatre Prize The Europe Theatre Prize ''(Premio Europa per il Teatro)'' is an award of the European Commission for a personality who has "contributed to the realisation of cultural events that promote understanding and the exchange of knowledge between peo ...

, born in 1986, of which he is the current President. Lang was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 1994 to 1997. In 2000, he stood unsuccessfully for

Mayor of Paris The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...

. While he had planned to stand for president in 2007, he ultimately decided not to register as a candidate in the Socialist primary for the sake of party unity. In 2007, Lang agreed to become co-chairman of a commission drafting changes to the Constitution that were supported by President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

but opposed by the Socialist Party. This decision provoked strong criticism from his party, leading him to end his role in the party leadership. When Parliament voted on the constitutional changes on 21 July 2008, he voted in favour, becoming the only Socialist deputy so to do. A three-fifths majority was required, and the changes passed by a vote of 539 to 357, meaning that Lang's support enabled the bill to pass by a one-vote margin. The Socialist Party denounced Lang for this vote; party spokesman

Julien Dray Julien Dray (born 5 March 1955 in Oran, French Algeria) is a French politician. He is a member of the French Socialist Party, member of the regional council of Île-de-France and was a member of the National Assembly of France between 1988 an ...

said that he had "gone too far" and "no longer has his place in our political family", while

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...

, the President of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, said that Lang's vote was an act of "

crossing the Rubicon The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The exact date is unknown. Scholars us ...

". Lang replied by saying that it "is in nobody's power to strike me from the map of the French political landscape". In late 2009, Sarkozy appointed Lang his special envoy to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, following a similar assignment earlier in the year to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Lang travelled to

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

on 9 November 2009 for a self-described "listening mission" aimed at exploring bilateral ties and discussing the North Korean nuclear program, among other things. Lang briefed American officials including Deputy Secretary of State

James Steinberg James Braidy Steinberg (born May 7, 1953) is an American academic and political advisor, and former United States Deputy Secretary of State. He has served as the dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns H ...

and special envoy Sung Kim, as well as ambassadors of countries involved such as

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, before the assignment was publicly announced. Some critics questioned Lang's qualifications, but Lang said he would be driven by his "intuition" that change was afoot in North Korea. In August 2010, Lang became special adviser on piracy at the United Nations. He was brought in to advise on the prosecution of pirates off the coast of Somalia. In 2012 Lang was chosen as the Socialist Party candidate for the National Assembly in the second district in the Vosges department. A controversial figure in the Socialist Party since his collaboration with Sarkozy, Lang's constituency was abolished during the national reapportionment and he failed to be nominated in several other constituencies before finally succeeding in the Vosges. The electorate in this department is considered by observers to be more conservative than in Lang's previous seat. Lang was criticized for being an 'outsider', to which he countered that he had been born in the region. Lang was narrowly defeated on the second round of voting in the election on 17 June 2012, winning 49.1% of the vote.

Political career

Governmental functions

* Minister of Culture : 1981–1986. * Minister of Culture, Communication, Great Works and of the Bicentennial : 1988–1991. * Minister of Culture and Communication, government's spokesman : 1991–1992. * Minister of State, minister of National Education and Culture : 1992–1993. * Minister of National Education : 2000–2002. * Special envoy to

: February 2009. * Special envoy to

: November 2009.

Electoral mandates

European Parliament * Member of

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

: 1994–1997 (Reelected member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

in 1997). Elected in 1994. National Assembly of France * Member of the

for

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

: Since 2002. Elected in 2002, re-elected in 2007. * Member of the

for

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...

: 1986–1988 (Became minister in 1988) / March–December 1993 (Resignation) / 1997–2000 (Became minister in 2000). Elected in 1986, re-elected in 1988, 1993, 1997. Regional Council * Vice-president of the Regional Council of

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Cala ...

: Since 2004 * Regional councillor of

: Since 2004. * Regional councillor of

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

: 1992–1998. General Council * General councillor of

: 1992–1993 (Resignation). Municipal Council *

: 1989–2000 (Resignation). Reelected in 1995. * Municipal councillor of

: 1989–2002 (Resignation). Re-elected in 1995. * Councillor of Paris 1983–1989.

Bibliography

Books

* * ''Le plateau continental de la mer du Nord : Arrêt de la Cour Internationale de Justice'', février 1969 LGDJ bibliothèque de droit international * ''Éclats'' (avec

Jean-Denis Bredin Jean-Denis Bredin (born Jean-Denis Hirsch: 17 May 1929 – 1 September 2021) was a French attorney and founding partner of the firm Bredin Prat. He was widely admired as an author-commentator, both for his novels and for his non-fiction works ...

), éditions Jean-Claude Simoën, 1978 * ''Demain, les femmes'', Grasset, août 1995 * ''Lettre à André Malraux'', Éditions 1, November 1996 * ''François Ier'', Perrin, octobre 1997 * ''Les araignées'', Pocket, 2000 * ''La politique, d'où ça vient ? L'origine de l'État, Les fondements de la République, La genèse de l'impôt'' (avec Odon Vallet et Gaëtan de Séguin des Hons),

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, wife of Camille Flammarion * Flammarion engraving by unknown artist; appeared in a book by C ...

, août 2000 * ''Qu'apprend-on au collège ? Pour comprendre ce que nos enfants apprennent'' (avec

Claire Bretécher Claire Bretécher (; 17 April 1940 – 10 February 2020)
on Lambiek Comiclopedia was a French

Odile Jacob Odile Jacob is a French publisher who founded ''Les Éditions Odile Jacob'' in the middle of the 1980s. She is also a trained scientist, studying the workings of the brain, the mind and thought. She is a member of Le Siècle.Frédéric Saliba, 'L ...

, août 2004, * ''Nelson Mandela : Leçon de vie pour l'avenir'', Perrin, janvier 2005 – * ''Changer'' livre programme pour 2007, Plon, Septembre 2005, * '' Immigration positive'', avec Hervé Le Bras, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2006, * ''Faire la révolution fiscale'', Plon, 2006, * ''Demain comme hier'', avec Jean-Michel Helvig, Fayard, 2009, * ''La bataille du Grand Louvre'', éditions Réunions des Musées Nationaux, 2010, * ''Ce que je sais de François Mitterrand'', Le Seuil, 2011, * ''François Mitterrand : fragments de vie partagée'', Le Seuil, 2011 * ''Pourquoi ce vandalisme d'État contre l'École : lettre au Président de la République'', Éditions du Félin, 2011,

Prefaces, forewords and other contributions

* ''Le Gardien des âmes'' de

Alain Roullier Alain may refer to: People * Alain (given name), common given name, including list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Alain (surname) * "Alain", a pseudonym for cartoonist Daniel Brustlein * Alain, a standard author abbreviation u ...

(France Europe éditions), 1998. * ''16 ans ou l'avènement de la conscience citoyenne'' de Adyl Abdelhafidi * ''Homosexualité. 10 clés pour comprendre, 20 textes à découvrir'' de

Bruno Perreau Bruno Perreau (PhD, Paris I Sorbonne) is the Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also Non-Resident Faculty at the Center for European Studies, Harvard. Perreau taught political science, ...

(Librio), 2005. * ''Mitterrand, Une Affaire d'Amitié'', de Stephan-Xavier Trano (L'Archipel), 2006, * ''Héritage'' de

Jean Paul Leon Jean Paul Leon (born 1955) is a French/Spanish artist, sculptor, writer, known mainly for his work ''Unisson'' which assembles three art collections on the three Mediterranean Religions, calling for understanding and dialogue among the people of t ...

(Minedition), 2006,

Critical studies and biographies of Lang

* Caplan, Lincoln, "M. Le Ministre", ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' 60/47 (7 January 1985) : 18–19 * Jean-Pierre Colin, ''L'Acteur et le Roi'', Georg, 1994 * Jean-Pierre Colin, ''Le Mystère Lang'', Georg, 2000 * Nicolas Charbonneau,

Laurent Guimier Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

, ''Docteur Jack et Mister Lang'', Le Cherche midi, 2004 * Marie Delarue, ''Les Aventures de Lang de Blois, enquêtes'', Jacques Granger, 1995 * ''À table avec les politiques'', 2005, film documentaire de

Frédéric Lepage Frédéric Lepage is a French author, film writer and producer of several hundred programs and documentaries. Career Literary career Frédéric Lepage is a best-selling author of novels such as ''La Fin du septième jour'' or ''La Mémoire in ...

* * Edition établie et présentée par Frederic Martel, ''Jack Lang Une Revolution Culturelle Dits et Écrits'' Bouquins la collection ;Festival de Nancy * Marie-Ange Rauch, ''Le théâtre en France en 1968, histoire d'une crise'', thèse consacrée à l'histoire du théâtre en France (1945–1972), Nanterre, 1995, 475 pages. Voir chapitre 2 : « les étudiants le théâtre et le Festival de Nancy », pp. 135–143. ;As Minister for Culture and Communication * Laurent Martin, ''Le prix unique du livre 1981–2006. La loi Lang'', coordonné par Laurent Martin, Comité d'histoire du ministère de la Culture et des institutions culturelles – IMEC, collection L'édition contemporaine, 2006, 197 p. * Laurent Martin, « Oui, le livre a un prix », ''

L'Histoire ''L'Histoire'' is a monthly mainstream French magazine dedicated to historical studies, recognized by peers as the most important historical popular magazine (as opposed to specific university journals or less scientific popular historical mag ...

'', number 216, janvier 2007. * Philippe Poirrier, ''L'État et la culture en France au XX^e'', Le Livre de Poche, 2006. * Michel Schneider, ''La Comédie de la Culture'', Seuil, 1993.

References

External links

Official website

Jack Lang blog

Assemble-nationale.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Jack 1939 births Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French Ministers of Culture French Ministers of National Education French people of Jewish descent Government spokespersons of France Living people Mayors of places in Centre-Val de Loire Music festival founders People from Mirecourt Politicians from Grand Est Sciences Po alumni Socialist Party (France) politicians