Théodore Reinach

Born July 3, 1860 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Seine-et-Oise), died October 28, 1928 in Paris. Member of Parliament for Savoie from 1906 to 1914.

Théodore Reinach, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on July 3, 1860, was the brother of Joseph Reinach. Like him, he studied brilliantly at the Fontanes high school, during which he won unprecedented success in the general high school competition and was awarded a doctorate in law and literature. He was a member of the Paris Bar in 1881-1886. Like his brothers, he devoted himself to archaeology, with a predilection for numismatics, and in 1890 was charged with an archaeological mission to Constantinople. From 1894 to 1896 he taught a course in ancient numismatics at the Faculty of Letters in Paris. A very hard-working man, he supplied a large number of scholarly articles to scholarly journals. The list of his works is long; let us only mention History of the Israelites from their dispersal to the present day (1885), On the state of siege and the institutions of public salvation in France and in comparative legislation (1885), Mithridate Eupator roi du Pont (1890), etc...

Following in the footsteps of another numismatist, Waddington, who was President of the Council, he entered politics when in 1905 "sure friends, tried and tested republicans, elected representatives of Savoy (m') invited me to take up the flag of the republican union. It was a position of honor, of combat, of danger". Théodore Reinach did not hesitate: he was a candidate of the radical left in the legislative elections of May 6, 1906 in the 1st constituency of the district of Chambéry, where he owned the Motte-Servolex.

Théodore Reinach was elected in the second round with 9,095 votes out of 21,147 registered, 17,828 voters and 17,672 votes cast, ahead of Dardel (8,573 votes). Results of the first round (Dardel 8.523, Reinach 8.150, Mathieu Laville 748).

During the 9th legislature, Theodore Reinach was a member of the commission of education and fine arts and the commission of the schools of higher education of Algiers. The problems of the right to literary and artistic creation attracted his attention (his report on the bill adopted by the Senate on the protection of copyright in the reproduction of works of art; his report on the bill approving a Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works). But he also devotes numerous interventions to tax issues. His political activity did not distract him from scholarship: in 1909, he was elected to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres.

In the ballot of April 24, 1910, Théodore Reinach was elected in the first round in Chambery (21,794 registered, 17,085 voters, 16,699 votes cast) with 8,480 votes against 6,217 in Pot and 2,002 in Petitbal.

In this new legislature, its activity does not weaken. He played his part in the great debate on the reform of the voting system that agitated the Chambers in those years: he was in favour of a transaction between proportional representation and majority voting, in the form of the "limited vote", which tends to ensure a certain representation of minorities. However, his main activity remained oriented towards the protection of France's artistic wealth: he therefore called for the declaration of the urgency of the bill to create a fund for historical and prehistoric monuments. This was his last intervention (April 2, 1914). In the legislative elections of April 26 and May 10, 1914, Théodore Reinach, in the second round, had to give up his seat to Paul Proust who won (20,665 registered, 16,922 voters) by 8,635 votes to 7,723 (results of the first round: Proust 6,315, Reinach 4,833, Dufayard 3,439, Petitbal 2,361). Theodore Reinach was not to run again in 1919. During the last years of his life he devoted himself to his scientific activities, publishing a book on Greek music (1926) and directing the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. He died in Paris on October 28, 1928 at the age of 68.