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Pierre Fabricius

Portrait of Pierre   Fabricius

Pierre [Peter] Fabricius (23 Apr. 1912, Berlin, Germany ‑20 Dec. 1988, Moulins, France) was a Sanskritist, Indianist and Khmerologist who spent 24 years in Cambodia (1950−1974) as an educator and independent researcher.

After three years at Heidelberg University studying Sanskrit under Prof. Heinrich Zimmer, and later Jainism with Prof. Walter Schubring at Hamburg University, he fled Nazism to Paris in 193, pursuing studies in Indian civilization and philosophy, Buddhism and Tamil language, with mentors such as Sylvain Lévi, Alfred Foucher, Louis Renou, Jean Przyluski, Jean Filliozat and Jules Bloch. In 1935 – 1936, he attended the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on a scholarship. He also obtained the diploma habilitating him to teach German in French schools.

In 1939, Fabricius joined the Foreign Legion to fight in World War II, serving in Algeria and Tunisia under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (1889−1952), whom he followed when, in 1950, he was appointed high-commissioner and commander of the French troops in Indochina. He asked to be posted in Cambodia, learning Khmer by himself and, as he was granted French citizenship in 1947, teaching at secondary schools and universties in Phnom Penh. A dedicated educator, he taught the first generation coming to age in independent Cambodia, and reluctantly left in 1974 only, a few months before the Khmer Rouge stormed the Cambodian capital city.

Publications

[based on Lan Sunnary, ​“Pierre Fabricius (In Memoriam)”, Péninsule 28, 1994]

  • “Étude du langage administratif”, Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui (Phnom-Penh), 2° année, n° 6. juin 1959, p. 23 – 30. |ENG version: ​“The Rebirth of the Cambodian Language, A Study of the Administrative Language”, Cambodia Today, 6, June 1959: 19 – 25 (digital version by AEFEK).
  • “Sur quelques désignations khmères”, Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui, 3° année, n°2, Phnom-Penh, Feb. 1960, p. 25 – 37.
  • “Les Noms Posthumes des Souverains Khmers”, Cambodge d’Aujourd’hui, 3° année, n°7, juillet-août 1960, p. 16 – 18; augmented repr.: Annales de l’Université Royale des Beaux-Arts, n°1, 1967. pp. 115 – 120.
  • “Prolégomènes à l’histoire khmère”, France-Asie (Tokyo), n° 164, Nov. Dec.1960, p. 1451 – 1472.
  • “Le Congrès National et la souveraineté du peuple au Cambodge”, Annales de la Faculté de Droit et des Sciences Economiques de Phnom-Penh IV, 1962. p. 65 – 88.
  • Cours de sanscrit. Phnom-Penh : Université Royale des Beaux-Arts, 1965 – 1970. (manuscrit et notes de cours).
  • [with Lan Sunnary] ​“Un conte khmer. Histoire des deux compères”, Etudes Cambodgiennes, n°17, janvier-mars 1969, p. 36 – 37.
  • [with Lan Sunnary] ​“Le prasad Angkor Vat”, Nokor Khmer, n°2, 1° trimestre 1970, p. 47 – 61.
  • [with Lan Sunnary] ​“La légende des Tours de la Demoiselle Noire” [de Bati], Cambodge Nouveau 1−(2), Juillet 1970, pp. 54 – 55.
  • “Les Etapes sociales du sanscrit”, Annales de l’Université des Beaux-Arts (Phnom Penh), n°2, 1972, p. 1 – 24.
  • [with Lan Sunnary] ​“Un manuel moderne de divination cambodgienne”, Eurasie. Cahiers de la Société des Etudes euro-asiatiques (Paris) n°2, 1992. p. 139 – 161. 

Photo: Headline announcing the death of General de Lattre de Tassigny, Cambodge, Journal Khmer d’Information, 12 June 1952.