In the course of a mammoth tidying up job today, I came across some photos of Rudolf Regul.
He was my economics professor at the College of Europe in 1967/8 and a most important person in my life during that year. I had opted for the economics faculty and he would be the judge of my (minor) thesis at the end of the academic year in June 1968.
Photo: André Meulemans
Before coming to the College as head of the economics faculty he had been the Director of the Economics Division in the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the precursor of the Common Market.
In the photo above he is explaining the basing point system of pricing used in the ECSC. This system was introduced with the objective of maintaining production/consumption patterns as they had been previously. It was a collusive system which ran counter to the requirements for other sectors under the later EEC treaty. No wonder the stressed look on Regul's face and the perplexed look on those of his students.
My thesis was on whether there should be price measures included in the Single Treaty which was to cover the three Communities (ECSC, EEC & Euratom). We had many arguments over what constituted "price measures". I took a very broad view while he felt I should have been more specific. Clearly the ECSC Treaty was more specific in this than the EEC Treaty.
Photo: André Meulemans
Although he didn't suffer fools gladly, he thrived on argument and had very good relations with his students. He once took us all out to a superb dinner and I have never tasted such exquisite meat to this day.
John Mole on harmonica, me on guitar & in background
(l-r) Luiga Maggioni, Nuala Atkinson & Giovanni Resseman.
Photo: André Meulemans
The Rector of the College, Brugmans, was a strange man. He had a very paternalistic attitude to his students and more particularly to liaisons between male and female students.
He also defied the laws of statistical randomness or at least appeared to. And, given his experiences during WWII, he was easily provoked by Germans, of whom Regul was one.
At student sing songs (or parties as we would have called them) Regul insisted that I strike up Lily Marlene, which he sang with great gusto while the Rector fumed at the far side of the room. I'm sure this was very unfair on the Rector but it seemed great fun at the time.
Anyway, since I could find no photos of Regul on the internet I thought I'd post the above and then I couldn't resist the commentary.
How wonderful to see these fotos of my grandfather. And your description of him a very true.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Charlotte Pilhatsch( geb Regul)
Lieber Polo,
ReplyDeleteWie schön, diese mir unbekannten Fotos von meinen geliebten Opa Regul zu finden. Ihr Text über ihn hat mich sehr bewegt, denn er beschreibt ihn sehr gut.
Vielen lieben Dank,
Charlotte Pilhatsch, geb Regul
Dear Charlotte
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for that.
I always look with great fondness on my time in the College of Europe. We were a community drawn from many nations and cultures. It was particularly formative for me as it was my first time living away from home and I was initially very scared of not coming up to the standards required in this prestigious European institution.
Your grandfather could be on the gruff side but he was a good teacher and when you got to know him he was great company. I got to like him despite his and my stubbornness in our respective views on some academic matters.
When there were no photos of him on the internet I thought that a disgrace and set about trying to establish a visual presence for him online.
I am very touched by your comment (I have Google translated the German version also) and hope that you stay safe and well in these troubled times.
Thank you,
Pól
Liebe Charlotte
ReplyDeleteVielen Dank dafür.
Ich schaue immer mit großer Vorliebe auf meine Zeit am College of Europe. Wir waren eine Gemeinschaft aus vielen Nationen und Kulturen. Es war besonders prägend für mich, da ich zum ersten Mal nicht zu Hause lebte und anfangs große Angst hatte, die in dieser angesehenen europäischen Institution geforderten Standards nicht zu erfüllen.
Ihr Großvater könnte schroff sein, aber er war ein guter Lehrer, und als Sie ihn kennen lernten, war er eine großartige Gesellschaft. Ich durfte ihn trotz seiner und meiner Sturheit in unseren jeweiligen Ansichten zu einigen akademischen Angelegenheiten mögen.
Als es im Internet keine Fotos von ihm gab, hielt ich das für eine Schande und machte mich daran, online eine visuelle Präsenz für ihn aufzubauen.
Ich bin sehr berührt von Ihrem Kommentar (ich habe auch die deutsche Version von Google übersetzt) und hoffe, dass Sie in diesen schwierigen Zeiten sicher und gesund bleiben.
Vielen Dank,
Pól
[Das obige ist eine Google-Übersetzung und ich hoffe, dass es das Original originalgetreu wiedergibt.]
Exquisite meat? It may have been very nice, but the way you put it suggests that you had no idea what sort of meat it was?
ReplyDeleteI would have expected you to say beef, or lamb, or maybe veal or something else like that!
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteC'mon, that was more than fifty years ago.
And just by the way, I suspect it was beef, filet steak no doubt.