Aron Broches

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{{Infobox person

| name =

| image = Aron Broches signing ICSID crop.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Aron Broches after the signing of the ICSID Convention.

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|03|22|df=y}}{{cite web |last1=Parra |first1=Antonio R. |title=Remembering Aron Broches |url=https://oxia.ouplaw.com/page/546 |website=Investment Claims |access-date=13 January 2024 |language=en}}

| birth_place = Amsterdam, the Netherlands

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|09|09|1914|03|22|df=y}}{{cite news |title=Aron Broches, 83, Official at World Bank |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/16/business/aron-broches-83-official-at-world-bank.html |access-date=13 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=16 September 1997}}

| death_place = Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C., United States

| nationality = Dutch{{cite book |last1=Broches |first1=Aron |title=Selected Essays: World Bank, ICSID, and Other Subjects of Public and Private International Law |date=1 February 1995 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |location=Dordrecht |isbn=9789004640757 |page=xiii |url=https://brill.com/display/title/9386 |access-date=13 January 2024}}

| other_names = Ronnie

| occupation =

| years_active =

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| notable_works =

}}

Aron Broches ({{IPA|yi|ˈbʁɔχəs}}) was a Dutch legal scholar. He founded the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and drafted the centre's founding convention.

Personal life

Broches was born in Amsterdam, on 22 March 1914. His father, Abraham Broches, was an émigré from Mohilev who ran a cigarette factory in Amsterdam.{{cite web |title=Sigarettenfabriek Broches |url=https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/sigarettenfabriek-broches/ |website=Joods Amsterdam | access-date=13 January 2024 |language=nl-NL |date=17 August 1880}} He was made part of the {{ill|Jewish Council of Amsterdam|nl|Joodse Raad voor Amsterdam|de|Judenrat Amsterdam|he|יודסה_ראט_פור_אמסטרדם}}, and was murdered in Auschwitz on 25 August 1944. His mother, Anna 'Chaja' Broches-Person, immigrated from Romny and was also murdered in Auschwitz, on the same day as her husband.

Aron Broches was the eldest of three children. His brother Elias ('Epi'), who went to school at Amsterdams Lyceum and went on to read classics, was executed by shooting in The Hague on 19 November 1942 for trying to flee the Holocaust in the Netherlands. His sister, Julia, was murdered in Auschwitz on 25 August 1944.

Aron Broches attended the Vossius Gymnasium from 1926 to 1933. After school, he would play the piano and take part in theatre activities.

In April 1939, he entered into ondertrouw with Catherina Johanna 'Kitty' Pothast, whom he would marry on 2 May of the same year.{{cite news |title=Familiebericht |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011154760:mpeg21:a0123 |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=De Gooi- en Eemlander |date=6 May 1939 |ref=Gooi2 |page=4 |language=nl}}{{cite news |title=Familiebericht |url=https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011154753:mpeg21:a0204 |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=De Gooi- en Eemlander |date=28 April 1939 |language=nl}}{{cite web |title=Gemeente Amsterdam, Archiefkaarten, archiefnummer 30238, inventarisnummer 122 |url=https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/985333f8-f050-56a3-e053-b784100ade19?person=985333f8-f051-56a3-e053-b784100ade19 |website=Stadsarchief |access-date=23 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123223756/https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/985333f8-f050-56a3-e053-b784100ade19?person=985333f8-f051-56a3-e053-b784100ade19 |language=nl |archive-date=23 January 2024|url-status=live}} Six weeks later, they emigrated to the United States aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Broches had two children, Alexandra and Paul, and three grandchildren.{{cite news |title=ARON BROCHES DIES AT 83 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/09/13/aron-broches-dies-at-83/fdb30c8d-a858-4dcd-87e4-37aa8ecb0994/ |access-date=21 January 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=13 September 1997 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240121085450/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/09/13/aron-broches-dies-at-83/fdb30c8d-a858-4dcd-87e4-37aa8ecb0994/ |archive-date=21 January 2024 |url-status=live}}

Broches was a member of the Cosmos Club. He was appointed commander in the Order of Orange Nassau.{{cite web |title=Broches, Aron (Ronny) 1914 - 1997 |url=http://www.jodeninnederland.nl/id/P-2285 |website=Database Joods Biografisch Woordenboek |access-date=23 January 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240123225049/https://joodsbw.nl/id/P-2285 |archive-date=23 January 2024 |language=nl |url-status=live}}

Career

On 18 December 1936, Broches graduated with a Master of Laws degree from the University of Amsterdam.{{cite web |title=Album Academicum |url=https://albumacademicum.uva.nl/id/id042221 |website=albumacademicum.uva.nl |access-date=24 January 2024}} On 6 July 1939, he defended his dissertation {{lang|nl|Het ondeugdelijke octrooi in de inbreukprocedure}}, on patent infringement, at the University of Amsterdam.{{cite thesis |last=Broches |first=Aron |date=1939 |title=Het ondeugdelijke octrooi in de inbreukprocedure |url=https://pid.uba.uva.nl/ark:/88238/b1990000150650205131 |degree=Dr |oclc=64468892 |access-date=13 January 2024|publisher=Van Gorcum (Assen)}}

After arriving in New York, he enrolled at Fordham University School of Law to continue his studies in patent law. He graduated from Fordham with a J.D. in 1942. After graduating, he started working as legal advisor to the Dutch Embassy and Economic Mission in New York and Washington, D.C. In July 1944, through job rotation, he was selected to become the secretary of the Dutch delegation to the Bretton Woods Conference. Johan Beyen, who headed the delegation, quickly made Broches a de facto part of it, and assigned him to the drafting committee of the IMF Articles of Agreement.{{cite book |last1=Wubs |first1=Ben |editor1-last=Scott-Smith |editor1-first=G |editor2-last=Rofe |editor2-first=J |title=Global Perspectives on the Bretton Woods Conference and the Post-War World Order. The World of the Roosevelts |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-319-60891-4 |pages=189–206 |chapter=Beyen at Bretton Woods: “Much More Significant Under the Surface…”|date=7 September 2017 }}

In October 1945, Broches returned to the Netherlands. In a few years he rebuilt his deceased father's Broches cigarette factory. During the Second World War, the factory was closed, and all the machinery was stolen by the Nazis. The factory was eventually sold to a larger firm in 1953.

In 1984, 1987 and 1991, he was of counsel to Holzmann, Wise & Shepard.{{cite news |title=Eighth Joint ICSID/AAA/ICC International Court of Arbitration Colloquium on International Arbitration Washington, D.C. November 11, 1991 |url=https://icsid.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/publications/1991%20Summer%20Volume%208%20%28No.%202%29%20–%20Download.pdf |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=News from ICSID |issue=Summer 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029232859/https://icsid.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/publications/1991%20Summer%20Volume%208%20(No.%202)%20–%20Download.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2020 |page=10}}{{cite news |title=Julie Spain Wed To Paul Broches |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/02/style/julie-spain-wed-to-paul-broches.html |access-date=24 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=2 September 1984 |page=65}}{{cite journal |last1=Broches |first1=A. |title=Awards Rendered Pursuant to the ICSID Convention: Binding Force, Finality, Recognition, Enforcement, Execution |journal=ICSID Review |date=1 September 1987 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=287–334 |doi=10.1093/icsidreview/2.2.287 |url=https://academic.oup.com/icsidreview/article/2/2/287/641138|access-date=18 January 2024}}

Death

Broches died on 9 September 1997 in the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Funeral services were held at Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C., on 15 September 1997.{{cite news |title=Paid Notice: Deaths BROCHES, ARON |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:3SP8-4V40-000P-N4XG-00000-00&context=1516831. |access-date=18 January 2024 |work=New York Times |date=12 September 1997 |page=8}}

References