Auguste Tholance

Auguste Eugène Ludovic Tholance (born July 16, 1878 in Vals , Haute-Loire , † June 15, 1938 in Nice ) was a French colonial administrator in Indochina , most recently with the rank of Governor des Colonies .

He worked in Indochina from November 1900 and went through a typical career as a colonial official in various authorities. From 1921 he was head of the Inspection des affaires politiques et administratives ( APA ) of the colony of Cochinchina (the southernmost part of the country). In April 1922 he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor for his services . From May to December 1924 he managed the government of the colony on behalf of Governor Maurice Cognacq . In the following years he was President of the City Council ( commission municipale ) of Saigon . After the end of Blanchard de la Brosses term of office, he became governor of Cochinchina on an interim basis until the arrival of the appointed successor Krautheimer from January to the beginning of March 1929 (although there are also different statements according to which the office was exercised by Eutrope during this time ).

The following year, Tholance moved to the north and became mayor of Hanoi and director of the education authority. As early as November 1930, after only a few months in office, the next promotion followed, which made him Résident supérieur of the Tonkin Protectorate (the northernmost part of the country). Initially only intended as an interim candidate, he would ultimately hold the office for six and a half years.

Politically, Tholance was close to the French settlers ( colons ) and, like them, mostly represented clearly conservative and right-wing positions. For example, he rejected mixed marriages, especially if the woman was French. In the field of education, he relied on spatial and content-related segregation , which in fact meant that he forbade the Vietnamese to attend secondary schools ( Lycées ). For him, the Vietnamese were pure rice farmers and workers; He saw educated locals as primarily troublemakers and potential revolutionaries. His reactionary views repeatedly brought him into conflict with more progressive governors-general like Pierre Pasquier , but reliably secured the support of the conservative colonial press.

In the spring of 1937 Tholance gave up his office - Chatel was successor - and returned to metropolitan France. He died a year later at the age of 59.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert Cornevin: Hommes et Destins - Dictionnaire biographique de l'outre-mer , Académie des sciences d'outre-mer, 9 volumes, Paris 1975–1989, entry Auguste Eugêne Ludovic THOLANCE (1878–1938) (available from WBIS )
2. ^ Journal officiel de la République française , Yearbook 1933, p. 798
3. ^ Justin Corfield: Historical Dictionary of Ho Chi Minh City , Anthem Press, London 2014, p. 292 (entry THOLANCE, AUGUSTE EUGÈNE LUDOVIC (1878–1938) )
4. ^ Commission française du Guide des Sources de l'Histoire des Nations: Sources de l'Histoire de l'Asie et de l'Océanie dans les Archives et Bibliothèques françaises: I. Archives , KG Saur, Munich 1981, p. 540
5. ^ Marie-Paule Ha: French Women and the Empire: The Case of Indochina , Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 140
6. ↑ Gail P. Kelly: The Transfer of an Education Operating System: French Educational Management Organization in the Colonies , In: RM Thomas, VN Kobayashi: Educational Technology - its Creation, Development and Cross-cultural Transfer , Volume 4, Pergamon Press, Oxford 1987, p. 241
7. ↑ Gail P. Kelly, David H. Kelly (Eds.): French Colonial Education: Essays on Vietnam and West Africa , AMS Press, 2000, p. 97
8. ^ Commission française du Guide des Sources de l'Histoire des Nations: Sources de l'Histoire de l'Asie et de l'Océanie dans les Archives et Bibliothèques françaises: I. Archives , KG Saur, Munich 1981, p. 548