MARC BLOCH: BIOGRAPHY, THOUGHT, WORKS - ARTE - 2024

Marc Bloch (1886-1944) was an important historian of French origin who stood out for presenting history with a new vision. He made sure that his stories had a perspective more focused on the economy and the social.

His most important work was the book Apology for History. The publication was written while he was a prisoner of the German army, which had invaded French territory in the middle of World War II.

Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

After the first armed conflict, he began to teach at the University of Strasbourg, where he coincided with Lucien Febvre, a renowned French historian, with whom he worked for the creation of the School of the Annales in 1929. He was a great influence for other historians of the time, as was the case of the French Fernand Braudel.

Being of Jewish descent, he was one of the victims of the Nazi occupation in Europe. He came to be persecuted for being part of the resistance in France, was taken prisoner, tortured by the German secret police and later murdered.

Biography

Early years

Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch was the full name that the historian received when he was born on July 6, 1886. Lyon was his birthplace, but he only lived there during his first months of life and, due to fate, at the end of his days when he was a prisoner, just before he was killed.

Bloch's family, of Jewish origin, changed their place of residence to Paris when Marc was not yet two years old. His father, Gustave Bloch, devoted himself to teaching, giving classes in ancient history. It was from there that Marc's passion for the area was born.

His mother, Sarah Ebstein, fed Marc's creative side as she had great musical knowledge. She focused on supporting her husband's political career and taking care of their children's education.

In total, the couple had three children. Louis was Marc's older brother, who trained as a pediatric physician. Meanwhile, Marianna Charlotte was the historian's younger sister.

Very few details of Bloch's early life are known. The Bloch family lived in the same place in Paris for two decades.

By 1919 Bloch started his own family by marrying Simonne Jeanne Myriam Vidal, who was eight years his junior. Together they had six children

Education

Marc Bloch studied at the Louis-le Grand Lyceum. Founded in 1563, the academic institution continues to be a training center for great personalities in France. From politicians (such as Presidents Deschanel or Jacques Chirac), philosophers (such as Sartre, Voltaire or Víctor Hugo), to scientists and painters passed through the classrooms of this high school.

In the case of Bloch, as a student at Louis-le Grand, he took the opportunity to specialize in the area of ​​philosophy and letters, a title he received in 1903. He had no major problems to pass each of his courses. He managed to excel in areas such as history and in languages ​​such as French, English, and Latin.

His level at the high school allowed him to later enjoy a scholarship to study at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. This remains the most important academic institution in France, where more than ten Nobel Prize winners have been trained.

In 1908 he finished his time at the school. Bloch aspired to obtain the scholarship of the Thiers Foundation, but when he failed, he decided to move to Germany to continue his studies. He returned to Paris due to the conflicts that began to be experienced on Teutonic soil and again opted for the Thiers Foundation scholarship, this time being selected.

It was a very important achievement for the formation of Bloch. This scholarship was only received by five students a year and lasted three years.

The grant holders of the Thiers Foundation had a great number of benefits: living in a mansion, they were financially supported and contact with the intellectuals of the time was guaranteed.

Son

One of Bloch's sons managed to preserve his father's history. Étienne, born in 1921, was commissioned at the end of the 20th century to collect as much information as possible about his father, as well as ideas about his thinking and his treatment of history.

Military life

During the First World War he was mobilized as an infantry sergeant. When the war ended he had reached the rank of captain. He received various decorations such as the Cross of War medal and the French Legion of Honor medal.

Despite his health problems, having a large family and his age (53 years), he was asked to go fight in World War II. After the defeat of France in 1940 he was excluded from the civil service in a decision made by the Vichy government. The reason had to do with his Jewish roots.

His apartment in Paris was seized by the Germans and his bookstore sent to Germany.

He hid from 1942 when the Germans decided to invade the free zone and at that time he took refuge in Creuse. After the invasion of the southern area he joined the resistance where he became one of the leaders of the Lyon region.

Death

The French resistance consisted of the struggle or opposition that was shown to the Nazi occupation on French soil. It happened during World War II and Bloch was an active member of this movement. This decision, in addition to the fact of being Jewish, caused him to be persecuted by the Germans.

He was first captured and transferred to the secret police jail in Lyon, on avenue Berthelot. There was Klaus Barbie, nicknamed the Butcher of Lyon, in command of the German troops. Hours later, Bloch was sent to Montluc Prison, located on Jeanne-Hachette Street in Lyon.

In those first hours he was visited by one of his nephews. By this time, Bloch already showed signs of torture. He was subjected to new and more cruel interrogations, but he never gave any information to the Nazi troops. The only real information he gave was his full name.

The official information is that he was assassinated on June 16, 1944, three months after being arrested. Bloch and 29 other people were shot in an outdoor area in Saint Didier de Formans. Historians claim that the last words he spoke were Long live France!

It was only in November that Bloch's relatives recognized his belongings and his death was confirmed. His daughter Alice and her sister-in-law were in charge of verifying that some glasses belonged to Bloch, some objects such as medals for his participation in the First World War and the remains of one of his ties.

Thought

In his works, Marc Bloch expressed his ideas about history as a branch of study. He focused on giving meaning to things that happened. It was the culprit that there was a change in the way the story was interpreted, which at that time had a much more traditional approach. Bloch advocated the passage to what he called new history.

The foundation of the school of Annales, together with Lucien Febvre, allowed the opening of history to be able to relate to other branches. His works focused largely on the social analysis and the economic level that existed during historical events. In addition, he integrated elements of psychology when explaining some events.

In general, Bloch's approaches focused on leaving aside the simple exposition of events and focused history on the interpretation of human relationships or at the institutional level.

Bloch is believed to have taken the first step towards what later became known as structuralism.

One of Bloch's most popular principles was that “misunderstanding the present is fatally born out of ignorance of the past. But it is perhaps no less vain to make an effort to understand the past if nothing is known about the present ”.

Plays

Few works were authored by Marc Bloch, but they were enough for the Frenchman to be considered one of the most important historians of the time. The best known works were The Magician Kings, French Rural History, Feudal Society, Introduction to History and The Strange Defeat.

The Magician Kings

It was published in 1924, although the first edition in Spanish came out in 1988. This work focused on studying monarchs and the divine characteristics that were granted to them, especially in France and England.

This writing marked a precedent in history focused on psychological analysis. By then perhaps it was not a work so accepted by the public, accustomed to monarchical governments.

Rural history

These works were released during the 1930s. To write it, Bloch made several trips to investigate how the territories were divided into different areas of France. He was able to do this thanks to the fact that he received financial support from the government of the day.

In the first publication, he focused on land work in the country, which showed his clear economic focus. It was not a story focused on any particular character.

In the second work, the characteristics of feudalism as a social system were analyzed.

Introduction to the story

It was his most important work. He wrote it while in captivity and it was first published five years after his death in 1949. He tried to answer the question of what the definition of history is and what its purpose was.

He stood out for the literary style he used to tell the story. Bloch affirmed in this work the importance that writers, specifically historians, do not pass value judgments on their works since their approach should be intended only to explain things.

The strange defeat

It was the last book he wrote. He was the protagonist of this work as he recounted what he lived through after the 1940s. Here you can find some political essays that he made while he was in captivity.

References

1. Bloch, Etienne et al. Marc Bloch, 1886-1944. Culture & Patrimoine En Limousin, 1997.
2. Dumoulin, Olivier et al. Marc Bloch, Or The Commitment Of The Historian. University of Granada, 2003.
3. Fink, Carole. Marc Bloch. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
4. Friedman, Susan W et al. Marc Bloch, Sociology And Geography. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
5. Geremek, Bronisław. Marc Bloch, Historian And Hardy. Byblos, 1990.