Maurice Halbwachs French: ; 11 March 1877 – 16 March 1945 was a French philosopher and sociologist known for developing the concept of collective memory. Halbwachs also contributed to the sociology of knowledge with his La Topographie Legendaire des Evangiles en Terre Sainte; discussing of the spatial infrastructure of the New Testament. 1951
A longtime socialist, Halbwachs was detained by the Gestapo in Paris in July, 1944 after protesting the arrest of his Jewish father-in-law. He was deported to the concentration camp, Buchenwald, where he died of dysentery in February 1945.
In 1940, Halbwachs' brother in-law, Georges Basch dedicated suicide. His parents in-law Victor in addition to Mme Basch aged 84 years old at the time were murdered by Germans.
Part of his books were made by his widow to the the treasure of cognition of the Centre d'études sociologiques and are now held at the Human and Social Sciences libraries Paris Descartes-CNRS.
Towards the end of his life, Halbwachs was recognized for his contributions to sociology. He was elected into the Conservative Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He was also recognized as the Vice President of the French Psychological Society, while also being called to chair at Sorbonne.
In 1950, his gain on collective memory was published posthumously by his daughter.