Jean-Noël Jeanneney

Jean -Noël Jeanneney ( born April 2, 1942 in Grenoble, France ) is a French historian, politician and cultural functionary. From 2002 to 2007 he was director of the French National Library in Paris.

Family

His father, Jean- Marcel Jeanneney, his grandfather Jules Jeanneney, both were important figures in the political life in France.

Training, work

Jeanneney attended school in Grenoble, studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, earned a degree in history.

The humanities PhD in 1975 at the University of Paris X Nanterre was followed by a professorship at the Institut d' études politiques de Paris ( 1977). He became president of Radio France and Radio France Internationale (1982-1986), then President of the Mission de la Révolution française du bicentenaire ( bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution. ) ( 1988-1989). After that, he was Secretary of State for Foreign Trade (1991-1992) and Secretary of State of Communications (1992-1993). From 2002 he was the president of the Bibliothèque nationale de France ( BnF ) and went in 2007 to retire.

On the occasion of an exhibition initiated by him in the BnF 2006 on the Enlightenment - A legacy for tomorrow Jeanneney talks about the importance of this period for today. Fundamentalist attacker against the Enlightenment, driven by obscurantism and fanaticism would give the West a fight to the death. In his opinion, there is a danger that superstitions and prejudices merge into a new barbarism, the date is considered to be overcome.

Therefore, says Jeanneney must, the anticlerical heritage of the Enlightenment (Voltaire called it Ecrasez l' infâme " Shatter the vile " ) be adapted to the present, so that we oppose the new Islamism. The West should seek new life force in the world of ideas of the Enlightenment. They had all previously valid moral and political convictions replaced in three generations ( before the French Revolution ) by new.

Furthermore Jeanneney criticized the Digitalsierungsvorhaben of Google and rejects commercial exploitation. Instead, he suggested in 2006 a " European digital library ", which may be borne by the Member States and not subject to economic constraints. A corresponding project began in 2007 under strong French participation and went in 2008 under the name of Europeana online.

Writings

• François de Wendel en république, l' argent et le pouvoir, 1914-1940. Thèses: Lettres ( = Diss.phil. ), 1975, new editions
• Charles Rist: Une saison gatée. Journal de la guerre et de l' occupation. ( A bad time. Diary of war and occupation ) Hg, and note Jean Noêl Jeanneney. Fayard, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-213-01264-4 (in French).
• Quand Google defie l'Europe. Plea pour un sursaut. Mille et Une Nuits, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-84205-912-3. German: Google's challenge. For a European library. Translation Sonja Finck, Nathalie Mälzer Semlinger. With a new preface by the author to the German edition. - Afterword Klaus -Dieter Lehmann, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin. Wagenbach, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-8031-2534-0.