Early life and political career, 1901–40

Marcel-Henri Jaspar was born in Schaerbeek, a suburb of Brussels, on 23 June 1901. His father, Ernest Jaspar (1876–1940), was an eminent architect and the brother of Henri Jaspar (1870–1939) who was a Catholic politician and Prime Minister of Belgium in 1926–31. His mother, Marguerite Coopman-Dillens, came from a notable family of artists including the sculptor Julien Dillens (1849–1904). Because of the international nature of Ernest's work, Marcel-Henri spent much of his youth overseas in Cairo, Egypt (1905–15) and Paris, France (1915–19).^[1] He graduated from the University of Paris in 1918 and gained a doctorate in law at the Free University of Brussels in 1923. He practised briefly as a lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Brussels, and subsequently published a study on Belgian company law.

Jaspar became involved in liberal politics in 1921, influenced by his exposure to French liberal ideas.^[1] He became a member of the Liberal Party and was mentored by Albert Devèze, a liberal statesman. He rose through the ranks of the party's youth wing, the Jeunesses Libérales, and became head of their movement in Brussels by 1923.^[2] He quickly gained a reputation as one of leading figures in the party's "Young Turks" faction who emphasized the need for social reform besides the traditional liberal economic agenda of laissez-faire.^[1]

In May 1929, he was elected to the Chamber of Representatives as a deputy for Brussels and would remain a member until September 1944.^[2] He gained his first ministerial portfolio as Minister of Transport in the government of Paul van Zeeland (Van Zeeland II) in 1936–1937. Léon Degrelle's Rexist Party launched a number of visceral public attacks on Jaspar as a former director of the defrauded Constructa company as part of a wider denunciation of supposed "politico-financial scandals" associated with the government of Van Zeeland.^[3] In April 1939, he gained another portfolio in the Catholic-Liberal coalition of Hubert Pierlot (Pierlot II and III) as Minister of Public Health.^[2] As well as being a Francophile, Jaspar was a vocal critic of Nazism before World War II.^[2]

Attempted exile government, 1940

Following the German invasion of Belgium (10–28 May 1940), the Belgian government was forced to withdraw from Brussels into France, eventually to Bordeaux. Despite the surrender of King Leopold III and the Belgian Army on 28 May, it continued to support the French. However, after France sought an armistice it was unclear what it would do.^[2] Jaspar advocated taking the government to London, but was this was rejected by Pierlot on 18 June.^[2] Deserting the government without permission, Jaspar arrived in London with his family on 21 June. On 23 June, he made a broadcast on the BBC to German-occupied Belgium holding himself out as the founder of a Free Belgian government.^[4] Furious, the government in Bordeaux stripped him of his ministerial title the following day.^[5]

In London, Jaspar was soon joined by other left-wing politicians, many of them radicals, such as Camille Huysmans, Max Buset, and Isabelle Blume.^[5] Inspired by the example of the French General Charles de Gaulle who had founded the Free French Movement a few days earlier, Jaspar attempted to form an alternative government on 5 July known as the "Belgian National Committee" (Comité national belge) under Huysmans's presidency. The new venture failed to secure diplomatic recognition from the British Foreign Office. The arrival of Albert De Vleeschauwer, Minister of the Colonies, in London, followed by other senior members of the Pierlot government soon afterwards, ended the attempt to establish an alternative to the Belgian government in exile.^[5]

Diplomatic career, 1940–68

After his failure to establish a new government in 1940, the Pierlot government refused to allow Jaspar to return to a ministerial post.^[5] Instead, they offered him a post as chargé d'affaires (later minister plenipotentiary) to the Czechoslovak government in exile and later the re-established Czechoslovak state from 1940–46. Continuing in the diplomatic service after the war, he held posts in Argentina (from 1946), Brazil (1951), and Sweden (from 1954). His career culminated in 1959 when he was appointed Belgian Ambassador to France. He held the post until his retirement in 1968, a term that coincided with the presidency of Charles de Gaulle and the Algerian War.^[5]

Citations

• Franck, Jacques (2001). "Jaspar, Marcel-Henri (Baron)" (PDF). Nouvelle Biographie Nationale. Vol. 6. Brussels: Académie royale de Belgique. pp. 251–3.
• Di Muro, Giovanni F. (2005). Léon Degrelle et l'aventure rexiste (1927–1940). Brussels: Editions Luc Pire. ISBN 2-87415-519-5.
• Genin, Vincent (2015). "Les réseaux lettrés du diplomate-écrivain Marcel-Henri Jaspar dans les années 1960. De la raison de Renan à l'ésotérisme de De Becker". Textyles. Revue des lettres belges de langue française (in French) (46): 185–211. doi:10.4000/textyles.2588. ISSN 0776-0116.
• Genin, Vincent (2013). "L'ambassade de Belgique à Paris et la guerre d'Algérie. Marcel-Henri Jaspar, des Légionnaires belges et une Algérie française (août 1959-avril 1961)". Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains. 250 (2): 91–110. doi:10.3917/gmcc.250.0091.