Benoît Verhaegen
Benoît Verhaegen (1929–2009) was a Belgian academic and Africanist who specialised in the political sociology and post-colonial history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Born into a Belgian aristocratic family, Verhaegen fought as a volunteer in the Korean War. He embarked on an academic career after his return to Belgium and took up a post in the Belgian Congo in 1959 shortly before its independence. Verhaegen's progressive political views meant that he sympathised with African nationalism and he remained in the country on-and-off until 1987. He taught at various universities in the Congo which became Zaire in 1971 and he became increasingly influenced by Marxism and Maoism. Verhaegen's scholarly research was focused particularly on contemporary political movements in the Congo in the 1960s and 1970s. He termed his object of study "immediate history" (histoire immédiate) and published a number of important articles, books, and collections of documents. Early life and the Korean War Benoît Verhaegen was born into aristocratic family at Merelbeke, East Flanders in Belgium on 8 January 1929. He was the youngest son of Jean Verhaegen and his wife Simone Piers de Raveschoot. His grandfather, Arthur Verhaegen (18471917) had been a member of parliament for the Catholic Party and a leading exponent of Christian Democracy. Verhaegen was studying at the University of Ghent in August 1950, when he enlisted in the Belgian Volunteer Corps for Korea raised to participate in the Korean War. A few months earlier, South Korea had been invaded by communist North Korea and a coalition of military forces from the United Nations had been assembled to aid the South Koreans. Verhaegen served in the Korean War as a platoon commander and was twice wounded in action. He claimed his desire to fight in the conflict stemmed from his belief in an impending world war and a desire to live up to his family's tradition of military service. He later wrote a memoir of his experience during the conflict entitled A Season in Korea (Une saison en Corée). After returning from Korea, Verhaegen enrolled in the Catholic University of Leuven where he gained doctorates in law and economics with a thesis entitled "Contribution to the Economic History of Flanders". He gained a post as lecturer at Lovanium University at Léopoldville, Belgian Congo in 1959. Academic career and the Congo Verhaegen arrived in the Belgian Congo in 1959 and remained in the country after independence in 1960, during the Congo Crisis at Lovanium. His politics had become increasingly left-wing and "progressive" (progressiste) and he openly sympathised with the emerging African nationalist movement. Involved in nationalist politics, he served as chef de cabinet to Aloïs Kabangi, Minister of Economic Co-ordination and Planning, in the Lumumba Government. However, he became increasing disenchanted with the established political groups during the crisis. Although remaining a Catholic, his views became increasingly radical over the course of his career and embraced Marxism and Maoism as a route towards agrarian socialism in the Congo. Verhaegen began researching political movements in the Congo