IASA 2019 Annual Conference

The paper aims at presenting my current research on Charles Wolff (1904-1944), a long-forgotten French writer and journalist who belonged to the very first generation of record critics, collectors and discographers in France. Wolff had an extraordinary fate that ended tragically. A member of the Parisian bohème in the roaring twenties, Wolff later took part to the Spanish civil war as a volunteer and was part of the French Resistance during World War II. He was tortured to death in 1944 at the age of 39. His massive record collection (18,000 records) was one of the biggest in France at that time. This collection also had an uncommon destiny: it was plundered by the Nazis at the beginning of the war and kept hidden during 15 years, before it was finally restituted to Wolff's family in the mid 50's. It is now part of Radio France record collection. Based on previously unissued archives from the Wolff family, I'm currently working on a radio podcast to tell this story. As the vice-chair of the IASA DIscography Committee, I also would like to share it with the other members of the association.