Histories and memories: narrating the Great War in Belgium 1914-2013

in Cornelißen, Christoph; Weinrich, Arndt (Eds.) Writing War History. Hundred Years of Historiography on the First World War (2021)

Traces and memories of an ongoing pandemic – Yes We Care

in HumaMed@Larca (2021)

This is not a scandal in Luxembourg

in Entreprises et Histoire (2020)

At the beginning of the 1970s, Investors Overseas Service (IOS), a Panamanian company run by an American businessman, Bernie Cornfeld, with some of its subsidiaries domiciled in Luxembourg, experienced a ... [more ▼]

At the beginning of the 1970s, Investors Overseas Service (IOS), a Panamanian company run by an American businessman, Bernie Cornfeld, with some of its subsidiaries domiciled in Luxembourg, experienced a spectacular collapse. This was the first time that the Luxembourg financial centre appeared in the local and international media as a player in a globalised financial world. The crash of IOS referred to by some European press outlets as a Luxembourgish scandal, was not described in the same terms by the Luxembourg press and political elite. This case study examines how (financial) scandals erupt and are closed down in small countries. [less ▲]

Too small to be of interest, too large to grasp? Histories of the Luxembourg financial centre

in European Review of History (2020)

The importance of smaller financial centres in international capitalism has recently been highlighted by a number of ‘leaks’. Yet such public attention stands in contrast to the paucity of ... [more ▼]

The importance of smaller financial centres in international capitalism has recently been highlighted by a number of ‘leaks’. Yet such public attention stands in contrast to the paucity of historiographical research on these relatively new centres. To this regard, Luxembourg provides an interesting case study. While identified as a ‘global specialist’ by the Global Financial Centres Index, the genealogy of how it came to achieve this status remains largely under-researched. This article reviews the historiography of the Luxembourg financial centre from both external perspectives – how the international social sciences and humanities have positioned the Luxembourg financial sector within the broader finance and banking context – and internal viewpoints – how scholars in Luxembourg have recounted the relevant events. The Luxembourg financial centre began to appear in international historiography only in the last fifteen years. With only rare departures from general overviews and a tendency not to consult local sources, the contributions of international historians have mostly attempted to identify time frames and contextualise the particularities of its historical development. That said, a recent geographical diversification of the literature has seen the appearance of publications that demonstrate a more detailed understanding of its internal structures and links with other nerve centres of the global financial system. While a Luxembourg historiography began to develop in the late 1970s, it has often been produced to coincide with commemorative events, funded by players in the financial centre and frequently written by these same actors. While not necessarily hagiographic in approach, a lack of distance from the subject and a failure to problematise the subject has nevertheless meant that these writings are little more than factual introductions that, while useful, are limited in their historiographical depth. Furthermore, a dearth of archival research has produced a repetitive narrative based around a selection of key events and figures. [less ▲]

Surveillance, indépendance et intégrité

Book published by CSSF (2020)

BGL: L’histoire d’un siècle

Computer development (2019)

L’exposition retrace l’histoire de BGL BNP Paribas depuis ses débuts en 1919 jusqu’à nos jours, ainsi que son rôle et sa participation dans l’économie et le développement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ... [more ▼]

L’exposition retrace l’histoire de BGL BNP Paribas depuis ses débuts en 1919 jusqu’à nos jours, ainsi que son rôle et sa participation dans l’économie et le développement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. Intitulée « BGL: L’histoire d’un siècle », l’exposition a été conçue et mise en œuvre en collaboration avec le Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) de l’Université du Luxembourg. Elle a comme but de donner une représentation moderne et didactique de l’histoire sur un support digital accessible à un public très large. L’exposition propose à l’utilisateur différentes possibilités pour découvrir des sujets variés: un aperçu chronologique en forme de ligne de temps interactive ancrant l’histoire de la banque dans le contexte politique et socio-économique de l’époque, une carte évolutive des implantations de la banque au fil du temps, et des dossiers thématiques portant sur l'architecture, la marque et les métiers de la banque. Pour réaliser ce projet, les chercheurs de l’université ont eu accès aux archives de la banque et ont compilé toute une documentation comprenant des textes, documents, images, photos et vidéos. Le projet de recherche est également lié à la réalisation d’une thèse de doctorat sur l’histoire de BGL BNP Paribas au Luxembourg. Il revêt en effet une pertinence scientifique importante pour l’historiographie du pays vu le rôle important de catalyseur joué par BGL BNP Paribas à la fois dans l’économie luxembourgeoise et dans le développement de la place financière du Luxembourg. [less ▲]

A chemical revolution as seen from below. The “discovery” of neuroleptics in the Paris of the 1950s

in Social History of Medicine (2019), 32(2), 395--413

Forum Z: Soziale Ungleichheiten in Luxemburg?

Conference given outside the academic context (2018)

Un novembre rouge à Bruxelles?

Article for general public (2018)

Bibliographie - La folie à Paris

in Majerus, Benoît (Ed.) La folie à Paris (2018)