Those who gave their lives for an ideal of justice, those who died for the law, have left the survivors a legacy that must not be made up solely of contempt and hatred. Paul Héger, Academic opening session of the Free University of Brussels, January 21, 1919. Confronted with the magnitude and violence of the mass death caused by the Great War, the deep trauma that ensued drove society towards an irrepressible need to mourn and remember those lost. Mourning is an intrinsic part of the war experience. It is present from the outset of combat and continuing after the war, and is a bond that unites combatants and non-combatants in the loss of a son, husband, brother, or “comrade”. Its expression is multifaceted : it tends topour lire la suite…
Tag: Leuven
The Leuven Faculty of Law : Professors in War
On the eve of the war, in 1914, the Leuven Faculty of Law had fifteen tenured professors, and two professors emeriti. Some of these professors has another profession on top of teaching. They were, for some of them, active in the Catholic Party, and the cumulation with a political mandate, at the local or national level, or with a ministerial position was quite common. The war affected their activities in several ways. The start of the war and the events of August 1914 particularly brutally affected the city of Leuven, and the university even more. On August 2, 1914, Germany sent an ultimatum to the Belgian government. Less than forty-eight hours later, the first houses were set on fire near the German border. On August 5, the Belgianpour lire la suite…