A clothing industrialist who came back from 1914 with the croix de guerre, he became departmental inspector of technical education and brought the vocational lycée of Belfort into being. The foundation he created still rewards its pupils; his epitaph calls him “pionnier de l'enseignement technique de Belfort” — pioneer of technical education in Belfort.
The story
Born at Besançon on 20 July 1883, Édouard Goldschmidt was an industrialist, a maker of clothing. He fought the 1914 war and came back with the croix de guerre. He could have stopped there — one textile owner of the East among others, in a region where the works at Belfort and Besançon employed whole populations, lacked trained workers and trained them themselves, badly. He chose to put his position to something other than his own business.
He became departmental inspector of technical education and gave his strength to technical and vocational teaching in the Territoire de Belfort. The subject was in no way abstract: to train skilled workers was to decide whether the local factories would recruit on the spot or elsewhere. He is the origin of the vocational lycée of Belfort, which today bears the name of Raoul Follereau, the writer who devoted his life to sufferers from leprosy. The school trained generations of workers and technicians afterwards, far beyond the career of the man who wanted it.
He created the Fondation Édouard Goldschmidt, which rewards the school's deserving pupils every year — a way of making a commitment outlast a career, and of endowing a state school out of his own fortune, which remains uncommon in France. Officier de la Légion d'honneur and commandeur des Palmes académiques, he died on 1 January 1967, at eighty-three. The foundation carries his name and still gives out its prizes: the pupils who receive them today are the great-grandchildren of those he wanted to train.
His daughter Simone (1918-2002), doctor of law and barrister, carried on his work: a Simone Goldschmidt prize is in turn awarded at the Follereau lycée. The grave in Division 9 carries the three names — his own, his wife Marguerite née Battegay (1889-1982), and Simone — and cuts the titles of each into the stone. The father founds a school and its prize, the daughter creates a second in her own name, and both are read on the same stone: a whole family summed up by its diplomas.
The grave
A stone that carves the titles of three people. For him: “Edouard GOLDSCHMIDT, 20 juillet 1883 – 1ᵉʳ janvier 1967, croix de guerre 1914-18, Officier de la Légion d'honneur, commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, Pionnier de l'enseignement technique de Belfort.” — Édouard Goldschmidt, 20 July 1883 – 1 January 1967, croix de guerre 1914-18, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Academic Palms, pioneer of technical education in Belfort. For his daughter: “Simone GOLDSCHMIDT… docteur en droit, licenciée ès lettres, avocate.” — doctor of law, graduate in letters, barrister. Between the two, his wife Marguerite née Battegay, without a title — the only one of the three.
On site, do not miss
Three generations and their titles on the same stone — and for him, six words that sum up a life: “Pionnier de l'enseignement technique de Belfort” — pioneer of technical education in Belfort.
Visitors' questions
Where is Édouard Goldschmidt's grave?
In Division 9 of Père-Lachaise, the one where Paul Dubois and Mademoiselle George lie. The stone carries three names and, for each, the titles: decorations for him, degrees for his daughter Simone, a barrister. Division 9 runs along the top of the old cemetery.
Paul DuboisWhat did he found at Belfort?
The technical school at Belfort, today the Lycée Follereau. As departmental inspector of technical education, he gave himself to vocational training in an industrial region where it decided who found work locally.
Alphonse LavalléeWhat is the Goldschmidt Foundation?
The foundation he set up to reward the best pupils each year at the school he had brought into being — a way of making his commitment outlast his career. His daughter Simone carried it on with a prize in her own name.
Auguste BurdeauWhat does his epitaph say?
It lists his distinctions, then sums up his life in six words: “Pionnier de l'enseignement technique de Belfort”, a pioneer of technical education in Belfort. Croix de Guerre 1914-18, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Academic Palms.
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