Élisabeth Du Réau
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Élisabeth du Réau, née de Chateauvieux (6 February 1937 – 6 February 2021), was a French historian and professor of international relations and contemporary history. She is well known for her biography of French Prime Minister
Édouard Daladier Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical Party (France), Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, who was the Prime Minister of France in 1933, 1934 and again from 1938 to 1940. he signed the Munich Agreeme ...
, and her work on the construction of the European identity. She had a twenty-year career as a high school history instructor before embarking on an academic career spanning over thirty years.


Biography


Childhood and education

Born Élisabeth de Chateauvieux in 1937, she began her university studies in
Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
in 1956, then continued at the
University of Rennes The University of Rennes (French: ''Université de Rennes'') is a public university, public research university located in Rennes, Upper Brittany, France. Originally founded in 1460, the university was split into two universities in 1970: Univers ...
. She completed her bachelor's degree in history in Paris, at the Sorbonne, in 1961. Marriage and children then interrupted her studies until 1965. She was awarded a master's with highest honors (''mention très bien'') in 1968, then passed the competitive
agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...
exam in history-geography in 1969. She earned her doctorate in contemporary history from the
University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
in 1987, again with highest honors (''mention très honorable''). Her dissertation, an eight-volume study of
Édouard Daladier Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical Party (France), Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, who was the Prime Minister of France in 1933, 1934 and again from 1938 to 1940. he signed the Munich Agreeme ...
called “Edouard Daladier et la sécurité de la France 1933-1940”, was supervised by
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle Jean-Baptiste Duroselle (17 November 1917, Paris – 12 September 1994, Arradon) was a French historian and professor. He had initially considered an army career or study of geography, but his poor skills in mathematics and drawing led him to turn ...
. In 1993 she published a condensed version as a biography of Daladier, ''Édouard Daladier, 1884-1970''.Reviews of ''Édouard Daladier, 1884-1970'': Serge Berstein (1994), ''Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine'', ; Jean-Marie d'Hoop (1993), ''Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains'', ; Jocelyne George (1995), ''Revue Historique'', ; Stefan Martens (1995), ''Historische Zeitschrift'', ; Kenneth Mouré (1994), ''French Politics and Society'', ; Robert W. Mühle (1994), ''Francia'', ; Donald Cameron Watt (1995), ''The Journal of Modern History'', ; Robert J. Young (1994), ''The American Historical Review'', , This, as well as her 1996 book, ''Histoire de l’idée européenne au XXe siècle (''), became the works for which she is best known.


Career

Beginning in 1960, Du Réau taught in private schools for 10 years. From 1970 until 1979 Du Réau taught high school business and history in
Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...
and then at
Lycée Janson-de-Sailly Lycée Janson-de-Sailly is a ''lycée'' located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The ''lycéens'' of Janson are called ''les jansoniens'' and they usually refer to their high school as Janson, or JdS. It is the biggest academic inst ...
in Paris. She was appointed as a lecturer in contemporary history at Le Mans University in 1980 and promoted to professor in 1989. She moved to the
University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 The Sorbonne Nouvelle University (, also known as Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, Paris 3, Sorbonne Nouvelle and the Sorbonne) is a public liberal arts and humanities university in Paris, France. It is one of the inheritors of the hi ...
in 1993. She held a Jean Monnet Chair from 1998 until 2004. Her work initially focused on the history of French foreign policy, but came to include the history of European integration, making new contributions on the subjects of the interwar period, debates among intellectuals, and European security after World War II. She led several doctoral programmes and research projects. One was a programme of collaboration between French, central and eastern European universities considering both academic and administrative development. Du Réau became vice-president of the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 from 1993 until 2005. She was vice-president of the Institute for the History of Contemporary International Relations and president of the ''Association des historiens contemporanéistes de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche'' from 1997 to 2006. Du Réau took emerita status in 2005 but continued to lead doctoral seminars and supervise dissertations, overseeing more than a dozen in her retirement. In total, she directed 29 doctoral dissertations and presided the jury review of 8 doctoral dissertations in her career. Élisabeth du Réau died on 6 February 2021, the day of her 84th birthday.


Publications

Du Réau was the author of several books including: *''Édouard Daladier, 1884-1970'' (1993) *''L'idée d'Europe au XXe siècle, des mythes aux réalités'' (1996) *''L'ordre mondial, de Versailles à San Francisco, juin 1919-juin 1945'' (2007) *''La construction européenne au XXe siècle: fondements, enjeux, défis'' (2007) She also edited or co-edited several
edited volume Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...
s, including: *''Europe des élites? Europe des peuples? La construction de l'espace européen (1945-1960)'' (1997) *''Dynamiques européennes. Nouvel espace, nouveaux acteurs: 1969-1981'' (with , 2003) *''Dynamiques et résistances politiques dans le nouvel espace européen'' (with Christine Manigand, 2005) *''Vers la réunification de l’Europe, Apports et limites du processus d'’Helsinki de 1975 à nos jours'' (with Christine Manigand, 2005) *''Les débats autour de la constitution pour l'Europe, enjeux et perspectives 2005-2008'' (with Alain Laquièze, 2007) *''Maréchal Jean de Lattre - Ne Pas Subir, Écrits 1914-1952'' (with André Kaspi, Marc Michel, Guy Pedroncini, 1984)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Réau, Élisabeth 1937 births 2021 deaths French women historians University of Paris alumni 20th-century French historians 20th-century French women writers 21st-century French historians 21st-century French women writers Academic staff of the University of Paris