Herman Leo Van Breda(bornLeo Marie Karel;28 February 1911, inLier,Belgium– 3 March 1974, inLeuven) was aFranciscan,philosopher and founder of the Husserl Archives at theHigher Institute of Philosophyof theCatholic University of Leuvenin Belgium.
On 19 August 1934, he was ordained as a priest and in 1936 he started studyingphilosophyat the Catholic University of Leuven, where he obtained aPhDdegree in 1941 with a dissertation on thephenomenologyofEdmund Husserl.Later he became a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he stayed until his death in 1974.
Husserl archives
editVan Breda saved the extensive writings and manuscripts ofEdmund Husserlfrom destruction by theNazis.
For the preparation of his PhD thesis he traveled toFreiburg,Germanyin 1938, where he found, in the legacy of Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), more than 40,000Gabelsbergerstenographymanuscripts and his complete research library. The political situation inGermanyat that time convinced him of the necessity to transport these manuscripts and Husserl's private library toLeuven.In order to smuggle the documents out ofNaziGermany, he needed the support not only of the rector of the Catholic University of Leuven, but also of the Belgian government. The Belgian Prime Minister at that time,Paul-Henri Spaak,allowed van Breda to bring the documents from Freiburg to the Belgian embassy in Berlin and diplomatic couriers to bring them to Leuven in Belgium.
Van Breda also was able to convince Husserl's former assistants,Eugen FinkandLudwig Landgrebe,to collaborate on the editing of these documents in Leuven. At the beginning ofWorld War IIthe documents were being kept in the university library in Leuven, which burned to ashes on 17 May 1940. Fortunately, one week before the fire, Van Breda decided to bring the documents to the Higher Institute of Philosophy.
In 1943 the documents were, for safety, distributed over different locations in Leuven, including a shelter in the cellar of the Institute of Philosophy and theAbbey of Postel.After the war they were brought back to the Institute of Philosophy, where they form the basis for theHusserliana,the complete works of Edmund Husserl.
For his work on spreading Husserl's work he was awarded anhonoris causadoctorate from theAlbert Ludwigs University of Freiburg.
See also
editReferences
edit- Toon Horsten,De pater en de filosoof. De redding van het Husserl-archief.Uitg. Vrijdag, Antwerpen 2018.ISBN978 94 6001 651 6.
- Jörgen Vijgen (2005). "Herman Van Breda". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 25. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 1405–1407.ISBN3-88309-332-7.