Professor and Hispanist Albert Broder has passed away
Last Tuesday, the 30th, Albert Broder passed away. He was one of the leading French historians of the past fifty years, as well as one of the foremost historians specializing in Spanish history. His doctoral dissertation Le rôle des intérêts économiques étrangers dans la croissance de l’Espagne au XIXe siècle, defended in 1981 at the University of Paris X, in which he analyzed the role of French investments in Spain’s economic growth during the 19th century, remains an inexhaustible historiographical reference for research. In particular, we would like to mention the chapter he devoted to railways, published in the Railway History Collection under the supervision of our colleague Domingo Cuéllar, titled Los ferrocarriles españoles (1854–1913). The French Business ( 2012).
We would like to emphasize that we railway historians were fortunate to have him participate in the 5th History Congress, held in Palma de Mallorca in 2009, as
which was given by inaugural lecture, and published the article “Foreign Investment in Spain in the 19th Century: Causes and Mechanisms of Dependence. An Essay in Economic History Based on a Comparison of Banking Systems.”
Professor Broder was, moreover, a wonderful person, a great conversationalist, a humanist in the truest sense of the word, whom those who had the privilege of knowing him could never forget. He has left us, but he remains with us through a body of work that will continue to guide our research. ASIHF dedicates this brief note to him to keep his memory alive.