François Bédarida

François Bédarida (14 March 1926 – 16 September 2001) was a French academic historian. His work centred on Victorian England and France during World War II. He made significant research contributions to the study of The Holocaust. He was a director of the Maison française in Oxford among other leadership roles.

Life François Bédarida was born on 14 March 1926 in Lyon, into a family of Catholic intellectuals. His father, Henri Bédarida, was a specialist in Italian studies and professor at the Sorbonne. François attended the Lycée Montaigne (Paris), the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Lycée Henri-IV where he was deemed a brilliant student.

He died on 16 September 2001 in Fontaine-le-Port.

French Resistance During the Occupation of France, his father gave sanctuary to the Catholic priest, Pierre Chaillet SJ. The youthful Bédarida was actively involved in the French Resistance and joined the Christian Témoignage chrétien movement where he met his future wife, Renée Bédarida. His doctoral thesis was on the Catholic population in London at the end of the 19th-century. François Bédarida then left for London to teach and carry out research at the French Institute during 1950-1956. In 1956 on his return to France, he became an associate of the CNRS (1956-1959). Then followed a period of five years as assistant professor in modern and contemporary history at the Sorbonne. In 1966 he was appointed head of the Maison Française in Oxford, whose first permanent home he launched and opened in the presence of French Culture Minister, André Malraux. Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur Officier du Mérite (1999) Prix de la Fondation Pierre-Lafue, 2000

Legacy The collected papers of François Bédarida are stored at the Archives nationales, on the site of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, under code 673AP