Félix Alexandre Fuchs (1858–1928) was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
colonial
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
and
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...
who served as
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
of the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
between 1912 and 1915.
A lawyer by profession, Fuchs joined the administration of the
Congo Free State
''(Work and Progress)
, national_anthem = Vers l'avenir
, capital = Vivi Boma
, currency = Congo Free State franc
, religion = Catholicism (''de facto'')
, leader1 = Leop ...
in 1888 as a
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Un ...
and quickly rose through the ranks. Considered a
Liberal, Fuchs's civilian background and attitudes distinguished him from the majority of colonial administrators who had begun their careers in the military. Rising to the highest ranks of the administration in the late 1890s, Fuchs eventually became Governor-General after
the Congo's annexation by Belgium and presided over the Congo's entry into
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
Career
Fuchs was born into a family of
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
origin in
Ixelles
(French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the muni ...
,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
on 25 January 1858. He was naturalised as a Belgian citizen in 1862 and, in 1876, went to study
Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
at the
Free University of Brussels. He later practiced as a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...
at the
court of appeal in Brussels.
In 1887, Fuchs began working for the
foreign service of the
Congo Free State
''(Work and Progress)
, national_anthem = Vers l'avenir
, capital = Vivi Boma
, currency = Congo Free State franc
, religion = Catholicism (''de facto'')
, leader1 = Leop ...
, a state in
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more State (polity), states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some e ...
with Belgium's monarch
Leopold II, which had been created in 1885. In 1888, he left Belgium for the Congo where he took a senior post at the Department of Justice and as a supplementary judge at the Congo's court of appeal. After a return to Belgium in 1889, Fuchs was sent as an envoy to negotiate the Congo's frontiers with
Portuguese Angola
Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa).
I ...
and was named Secretary-General of one of the Congo's three administrative departments. By 1892, Fuchs had become Director-General of the Department of the Interior and, in 1893, State Inspector (''Inspecteur d'état'') and thus the deputy to the Congo's senior civil servant, the
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
. Involved in the trials of the colonial officer in the
Stokes Affair of 1895, Fuchs was promoted to the presidency of the Congo's Appeal Tribunal, giving him a status equivalent to the Congo's Vice-Governors-General and remained in the Congo on senior government functions.
In 1908, in the face of international pressure, Belgium officially annexed the Congo Free State, creating the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
. Fuchs, however, retained his position in the administration. When
Théophile Wahis
Lieutenant-General Baron Théophile Wahis (; 27 April 1844–26 January 1921) was a Belgian soldier and colonial civil servant who served as Governor-General of the Congo Free State and, subsequently, the Belgian Congo for two terms between 1891 ...
, the incumbent Governor-General and Fuch's rival, resigned in May 1912, Fuchs was designated to replace him as the senior civil servant in the colony.
During Fuchs's tenure as Governor-General,
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
broke out. Despite the
German invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
...
and
occupation of Belgium
Occupation commonly refers to:
* Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
* Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
* Military occupation, ...
in August 1914 and Fuchs tried to preserve the Congo's
neutrality
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction ...
in accordance with the
Congo Act of 1885. His attitude was criticised by many of the Congo's Belgian settlers. However, after a skirmish between German and Belgian forces on
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. T ...
at the border between the Congo and
German East Africa
German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...
, Belgian forces became actively involved alongside Allied troops in the
East African Campaign. In March 1915, he was recalled to Belgium by the Minister of the Colonies,
Jules Renkin, and ordered to resign in September. He was replaced in the function by
Eugène Henry in January 1916 but continued to hold an advisory post in the Ministry of the Colonies.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Inventory of the Fuchs archiveat the
Royal Museum for Central Africa
The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: Königliches Museum für Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...
Félix Alexandre FuchsArchive Félix Fuchs Royal museum for central Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Felix Alexandre
1858 births
1928 deaths
Belgian civil servants
Governors-General of the Belgian Congo
19th-century Belgian judges
Congo Free State officials
People from Ixelles
Belgian people of German descent
Belgian people of World War I
Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni