Nico Gunzburg (2 September 1882,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

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– 5 March 1984,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

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) was a Belgian lawyer, criminologist and

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

. In 1885, his parents fled from Riga and settled in Antwerp.

Education

Nico Gunzburg attended high school at the Royal Athenaeum of Antwerp. He went on to study law at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. During his time as a student, he started to engage himself for the

Flemish movement The Flemish Movement (, ) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgium, Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemis ...

and became President of ''Geen taal, geen vrijheid'' (English: No language, no freedom) in 1905–1906 and published his first scientific articles in Dutch. In addition he became involved in the ''Bond der Vlaamsche Rechtsgeleerden'' (English: League of Flemish lawyers) and the ''Vlaamsche Rechtskundige Congressen'' (English: Flemish legal conferences).

Career

After graduating, he started working as a lawyer in Antwerp. Between

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Nico Gunzburg lectured at the

University of Ghent Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

, mainly on

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

. Politically he was one of the supporters of the dutchification of the University of Ghent. He took the initiative to start a new committee to discuss the matter. The commission started officially in 1919 and defended the bill of 1911 of Louis Franck- Van Cauwelaert- Huysmans which, after many years of transitional measures, aimed at the usage of a single language (Dutch) for education in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. In 1920 he established the Centrale Jewish Welfare Organisation which became the Royal Society of Jewish Welfare (Koninklijke Vereniging Centraal Beheer Joodse Weldadigheid en Maatschappellijk Hulpbetoon vzw) known as "The Centrale". Since 1989 his work at the Centrale has been taken over by Jewish personality, economist and geopolitical analyst, Alexander Zanzer, who is the Editor in Chief of Centrale Magazine (created by Nico Gunzburg in 1920) and co-initiator of the Nico Gunzburg Foundation by the Royal Society of Jewish Welfare (CBJW vzw and CJSW vzw). In 1927, he was the first Belgian to publish a handbook on marital law in Dutch. For several years, he was a member of the commission to create a Dutch version of the Belgian constitution and other laws and legal decisions. "The library of Niko icGunzburg (1882–1984) of history, law and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

culture, were confiscated by the ERR in January 1941, and shipped to Berlin in February 1941 in ten crates. Niko Gunzburg was a noted professor of law at the

, was a leading member of the Jewish community, a prominent Mason, and he was also a protest-activist against National Socialism in Belgium. Of his large library, only 200 books were returned after the war." Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy. Returned from Russia. Pages 217–218. During World War II, he stayed in the

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where, among other things, he lectured a

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. At the request of president

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

he contributed to the preparation of the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

, in which the German war criminals were tried. After the war he stayed America for a while, where he worked within the framework of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

organization for the displaced people, and prisoners from the concentration camps, afterwards to return to Belgium. He continued to lecture in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

until 1952, but afterwards he contributed to the newly independent

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. He taught criminology, cooperated on the reform of the Indonesian police force, became an adviser to the prime minister and also became befriended with president

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

. In 1956, Gunzburg returned to Antwerp where he remained active as a lawyer and as President of Jewish charities.

References

Bibliography

*Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy. 2007. Returned from Russia: Nazi Archival Plunder in Western Europe and Recent Restitution Issues. Edited by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, F.J. Hoogewoud, and Eric Ketelaar. Institute of Art and Law (UK), 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunzburg, Nico 1882 births 1984 deaths Flemish lawyers Flemish activists Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Belgian men centenarians 20th-century Belgian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Belgium Jewish centenarians