Passing of Joyce BLAU

Friday, 25 October, 2024 , 20:22

Joyce BLAU
1932-2024

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear colleague and friend, Joyce Blau, who passed away on the evening of Thursday, October 24, at her home in Paris.

Hospitalized since early September, she chose two weeks ago to spend her final days at home, surrounded by loved ones. She passed away peacefully at the age of 92.

A pioneer in Kurdish studies in Europe and an emeritus professor of Kurdish language and civilization at INALCO, she had been one of the pillars of the Kurdish Institute for several decades, serving as its treasurer and director of programs. Thanks to her scholarly work, numerous publications on the Kurds, and her tireless and devoted activism for the Kurdish cause, she became a well-known and respected figure throughout Kurdistan and in the Kurdish diaspora.

Born on March 18, 1932, in Cairo, Egypt, to a Polish-Jewish, Francophone family, she attended British schools in Cairo for her primary and secondary education. At a young age, she became active in the anti-colonialist movement led by Henri Curiel. After Curiel's expulsion from Egypt in 1951, her close friends faced prosecution. Joyce spent a year in prison and was herself expelled from Egypt to France in 1953. Other members of their movement, like engineer Robert Grunspan, who later became her partner, were sent to labor camps in the desert to serve sentences of 6 to 8 years.

Upon arriving in France, Joyce was welcomed by her mentor Henri Curiel, who was then living in hiding. Following his advice, after a period of adjustment, she enrolled at the School of Oriental Languages (Langues O') to study Arabic and Persian, and later Kurdish. She supported herself with various jobs, even working briefly as a secretary for François Mauriac, an experience she fondly remembered.

While advocating for the release of Egyptian political prisoners under Nasser, she joined Francis Jeanson's network, following Curiel’s lead, to support the Algerian FLN in its fight for independence. In 1960, Curiel succeeded Jeanson as head of this support network, but he was arrested in October and remained imprisoned until March 1962. Joyce had to go into exile first in Germany, then Belgium, where she stayed until 1966. At the Université Libre de Bruxelles, she completed her master’s degree on the Kurds, with her thesis “The Kurdish Problem, a Sociological and Historical Essay” published by the Center for the Study of Contemporary Muslim World Problems. The work was immediately banned in Turkey by a government decree signed by Turkish President General Cemal Gürsel, Prime Minister İsmet İnönü, and around fifteen ministers.

She considered this decree a high honor, as an entire government had mobilized against a modest master’s thesis by a young student.

Returning to France, she prepared a doctoral thesis on the Kurdish dialect of Amadiya and Djabal Sindjar, supervised by Professor Gilbert Lazard and published in 1975 by Klincksieck Editions. In 1970, following the retirement of her professor, Kamran Ali Bedir Khan, she succeeded him at Langues O, which later became INALCO.

She turned this position into a Kurdish language and civilization chair, increasing exchanges with Soviet Kurdish scholars and the Kurdish Academy of Baghdad.

Alongside her academic work, she continued her activism within a new group called Solidarité, led by Curiel, which supported anti-colonialist movements in Africa and the Middle East, including the South African ANC.

This group played a pioneering role in establishing the very first Israeli-Palestinian dialogue for a political resolution to the Palestinian issue. The first meeting took place in Brussels between Israeli General Peled and Palestinian leader Dr. Issam Sartawi.

The following meeting was held in Paris, and the day after, on May 4, 1978, Henri Curiel was assassinated outside his home—a tragedy that marked Joyce deeply for the rest of her life.

Since then, Joyce BLAU dedicated most of her time to her work on the Kurds and her activism for the Kurdish cause.

Associated with the establishment of the Kurdish Institute in 1983, she became a full-time volunteer member upon her retirement, handling various responsibilities including administrative management, secretarial work, overseeing scholarship students, and fostering relationships with Western researchers studying the Kurdish world.

Despite her health becoming fragile in 2023, she insisted on coming to the Institute every day “to be useful” and “to solve small problems.” Her empathy with people of all ages and backgrounds, her unbreakable optimism, her kindness, modesty, and dedication made her loved and admired by all.

Her passing is a great loss for the Kurdish Institute and for the Kurdish cause.

She leaves behind a significant and often pioneering body of work on the Kurds (see bibliography below) and beautiful memories. May she rest in peace!

The dates for her funeral and a memorial gathering will be communicated later.

Kurdish Institute of Paris