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Endpoint: Herman Balthazar



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created on: 11/12/2025
by: bob (10389)
 
 

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General info :
Herman Albert Balthazar (born 4 March 1938 in Ghent, Belgium) is a Flemish historian. He was a professor at theUniversity of Ghent and governor of the province of East Flanders.

Balthazar studied at the Royal Athenaeum on Ottogracht in Ghent (1950-1956). From his rhetoric studies onward, he was a member of the Socialist Students and the Language-Loving Student Society 't Zal wel gaan. He subsequently studied history at Ghent University (1956-1960).

He married teacher Josiane Rimbaut (1938-2018) in 1961. They had two sons: lawyer and politician Tom Balthazar (born 1962) and television and filmmaker Nic Balthazar (born 1964). The couple was active in Ghent's Multatuli Theatre.

In his various roles and capacities, he made no secret of his commitment to Freemasonry and organized liberalism. But even there, as in the socialist movement, he remained a critical activist. He adopted the same stance toward the Flemish Movement .

From 1962 to 1966, he was a PhD fellow at the National Fund for Scientific Research and from 1966 to 1968 a research assistant at Ghent University. He then taught at RITCS in Brussels and worked as an attaché for the Research and Study Centre for the History of the Second World War (now Soma-Ceges).

In 1970, he received his doctorate in Literature and Philosophy from Ghent University, in the history department. From 1970 to 1973, he was a lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) . After the unexpected death of Professor Jan Dhondt in 1972, he held the chair of Contemporary History at Ghent University, together with Romain Van Eenoo, from 1973 onwards. From 1985, he was an associate professor at both Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Like other Balthazars, he became active in the Ghent socialist movement and cultivated connections with intellectuals from the political left. He became a contributor to the newspaper Vooruit and a municipal councilor for the Belgian Socialist Party in Sint-Amandsberg. Throughout his political career, he was a member of the SP, and later the sp.a.

He also chaired the National Cultural Pact Commission (1978-1980) and the board of directors of the Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting Organization (1980-1984). He was also a member of the Dutch Language Union (1982-1984).

He also became chairman of the Ons Erfdeel Foundation and became a member of the Freemason's lodge De Zwijger.

In 1984, his career took a remarkable turn. He became governor of the province of East Flanders, a position he held until 2004 and combined with an extraordinary professorship at the university.
Relations :
Father of : Nic Balthazar
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Father of : Tom Balthazar
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Item number : 71503

Submitted by : bob (10389)
on : 11/12/2025