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1. Introduction
2. Correspondence
3. Information about these archives
1. Introduction
The table below shows 26 letters exchanged, between the colonial magistrate Jean Sohier and the reverend father Gustaaf Hulstaert, between 1949 and 1967. G. Hulstaert knew the father of his interlocutor, Antoine Sohier, former figure of the colonial judiciary returned to the metropolis where he was a magistrate of cassation. G. Hulstaert asks J. Sohier for a review while the young magistrate asks the man of the church if he is in possession of judgments from indigenous courts. J. Sohier indeed succeeded his father in his work of study and dissemination of the jurisprudence of indigenous jurisdictions (see. the tab Colonial journals).
And, at the beginning, the Reverend Father Hulstaert believes he does not have time to correspond with Sohier, the epistolary route does not allow the same nuances as orally, the exchange will nevertheless continue. This correspondence sheds light on the functioning of the Church in Congo as well as that of the territorial administration and the judiciary.. The two men also discuss the future of the Colony and the relationship between colonizers and colonized.. So many subjects on which the point of view of the two men sometimes varies greatly.
It should be noted that letters n°9 and n°15 speak of the death in China, in 1952, of Jean Sohier's brother, priest Albert Sohier. Incarcerated in 1951 and tortured by the communist regime, he was officially declared dead in 1952. He is, however, alive and is released by China in November 1954. For more information on this case, see the biography of Antoine Sohier(p. 3, point F)).
2. Correspondence
| Letter number | Date | Of... has... | Locality | Page name | Subject | Comment | To consult |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 09-11-49 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | Heverlee | 0,5 | Review request : Orban, Rental services in the Belgian Congo | / | [Online] |
| 2 | 24-01-50 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | / | 0,5 | Request review Grevisse The Great Mercy of indigenous jurisdictions | Difficult to read | [Online] |
| 3 | 10-06-51 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | Coquilhatville | 1 | - Cepsi Review Reception - Request other nrs - Breuls de Tiecken anticlerical - Exodus campaign- Indigenous peasantships = new form of compulsory labor - Cultivation of rice and cotton imposed = poverty in the region | / | [Online] |
| 4 | 27-01-52 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Elizabethville | 1 | Request general table of contents from Aequatoria for jurisprudence articles | / | [Online] |
| 5 | 07-02-52 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 1 | Aequatoria does not have a general table of contents | Answer to #4 | [Online] |
| 6 | 17-02-52 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Elizabethville | 2 | - Virulent indictment against Aequatoria, Boelaert et Hulstaert, Rubbens and Maus - Right for white people to integrate into Congolese society | Response to #5 | [Online] |
| 7 | 05-04-52 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 2 | - Deep disunity : basic question : rights of peoples/people - Your attitude is in contradiction with papal encyclicals - Going to the school of ‘primitives’ - The immigrant must adapt | Response to #6 | [Online] |
| 8 | 13/04/1952 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Elizabethville | 6 | - Solution will depend on us, creoles : war or civil peace - Protecting Bantu values from drifting towards South African apartheid - Distinguish between cultural plan (GH) and politics (JS) - Congo a strong and Christian nation - Bring black into the white cycle - Interpenetration of European and indigenous rights - “I dream of an independent Congo that is necessarily black even if white people have their place there” | Response to #7 | [Online] |
| 9 | 03/05/1952 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Elizabethville | 1 | Announcement of death of his brother Albert in China | / | [Online] |
| 10 | 11/05/1952 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 3 | - Charity is not enough to solve politics -the ethical question remains - Not take advantage of the weakness of the people to impose a decadent civilization on them | Response to #8 | [Online] |
| 11 | 23-08-52 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 1 | Against secular school for Congolese | / | [Online] |
| 12 | 27/08/1952 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 1 | Actions against Catholics – secular schools in Coquilhatville | Continuation of n°11 | [Online] |
| 13 | 07-09-52 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Ternée | 3 | The missionary church is outdated | Response to #11 and 12 | [Online] |
| 14 | 06-02-55 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | / | / | / | / | [Online] |
| 15 | 23/02/1955 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Jadotville | 9 | - Letter (1 p. r-v) - Commentary by ethnographers and jurists - Note on case law - Indigenous jurisdictions to integrate territorial into the judiciary - The missionary era must end | Response to #14 | [Online] |
| 16 | 01/03/1955 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 4 | - Hulstaert's note (1) - Indigenous courts : to be removed from the administration by agreement - Knowledge of customary law necessary - Better remove Hulstaert's note - Missionaries and parish clergy (in Congo) | Response to #15 | [Online] |
| 17 | 06-03-55 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Jadotville | 4 | - Names of judges in an article by Jean Sohier for Aequatoria - Indigenous jurisdictions to be reformed : not in administration - Reasons for societal upheaval - Ideas and examples of changes in mission compartmentalization | Response to #16 | [Online] |
| 18 | 14-03-55 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 3 | - Judiciary and administration - Wijima case and indigenous tribunal without appeal - Slavery, dowry monetization, ecclesiastical enclosure | Response to #17 | [Online] |
| 19 | 19-03-55 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Jadotville | 2 | - Leopold II, grand homme fort clairvoyant - The daily work of the magistrate - Politics for the Congo for Belgian political interests | Response to #18 | [Online] |
| 20 | 24-06-55 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 1 | - Allusion to the Wijima case - Palaver in Ingende (marriage) | Response to #19 | [Online] |
| 21 | 25/06/1958 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 0,5 | Review request | / | [Online] |
| 22 | 28-06-58 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Leopoldville | 1 | Recension | Response to #21 | [Online] |
| 23 | 02/07/1958 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 0,5 | Review request | / | [Online] |
| 24 | 06/07/1958 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Leopoldville | 0,5 | Recension | Response to #23 | [Online] |
| 25 | 14/07/1958 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 0,5 | Review request | / | [Online] |
| 26 | 19/07/1958 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Leopoldville | 2 | - Note of Sohier giving Equatoria - Encourage young people to publish - Political atmosphere in Léopoldville - Against Boelaert's ethnic federalism - Considerations on the profession of magistrate | Response to #25 | [Online] |
| 27 | 31-08-67 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | / | / | / | / | [Online] |
| 28 | 04-09-67 | J. Sohier to G. Hulstaert | Liège | 2 | '- Communication at the Academy - A course at the School of Advanced Studies as in Liège on Africa | Response to #27 | [Online] |
| 29 | 31-10-67 | G. Hulstaert to J. Sohier | They know | 1 | Paternalism exists everywhere, also among my blacks 1967 | Response to #28 Difficult to read | [Online] |
3. Information about these archives
The originals
Missionary Archives of the S. Courtyard in Borgerhout (AMSC Borgerhout) : « Correspondence Hulstaert – Not MSC, box N – W : – Sohier Jean ».
The originals were microfilmed between 2005 and 2017 à Borgerhout AMSC-Borgerhout, film 8, views 1809 to 2019.
Microformes
The Jean Sohier – Gustaaf Hulstaert correspondence was not microfilmed in 1992-1995 with other documents from the Aequatoria Archives, They know, RDC. The original copy of the Sohier correspondence (Antoine and Jean) had been sent during the period of unrest (looting of Kinshasa 1991 and other towns like Mbandaka in 1992) in the archives of the Missionaries of the S. Heart in Borgerhout, Hulstaert correspondence with Niet-MSC, in the N-W box. A photocopy had been returned to the Aequatoria archives in Bamanya. The originals were microfilmed at Borgerhout AMSC-Borgerhout, film 8, views 1809 to 2019. What a microfilm (which concerns many other documents from the Aequatoria archives) has not yet been digitized or transferred to microfiche.
The scans
The Jean Sohier – Gustaaf Hulstaert correspondence was scanned from the originals by H. Vinck and Mars 2020.
We warmly thank FatherHonoré Vinck of Center of Equatoria for sending us this correspondence, for having ensured its digitization, inventory and description, as well as having authorized its distribution on Digithemis.