Lumumba’s Speech of 30 June 1960: The State Archives in the Media.

Our colleague Gertjan Desmet, the archivist at CegeSoma, published the results of his analysis of a remarkable archival document from the "Diaries and Manuscripts" collection" in the May issue of the Journal of Belgian History. A thorough historical critique revealed that the original annotated typescript, previously known under the reference AB2191, is most likely none other than... Patrice Lumumba's personal version of his famous speech, delivered at the independence ceremony on 30 June 1960. The document had been in CegeSoma's collections since 2004 and was even described in the Pallas catalog, but until now it had gone unnoticed, let alone been analyzed.

The State Archives actually made the front page of De Standaard (May 12, 2026) with the news. The news even landed the State Archives on the front page of De Standaard (12 May 2026). DS journalist and historian Heleen Debeuckelaere came to speak with Desmet at ARA2, where the document is now safely stored. Our colleague offered further explanation in the newspaper's podcast DS Vandaag. On May 21, he did the same in French in an episode of L'Histoire continue on RTBF's La Première. Uitpers, the web magazine for international politics, also featured an interview with our colleague.

Desmet's research has also been picked up internationally over the past months. Jean-Marie Mutamba Makombo, professor emeritus at the Université de Kinshasa, who has himself published as a historian on Lumumba and the genesis of the speech, mentioned our colleague this summer in two articles of the Congolese newspaper La Prospérité (no. 6865 of 29June, p. 12; no. 6887 of 30 July, p. 9). The blog "Over de Muur – voor historische vernieuwing" ("Over the Wall – for historical renewal"), an initiative of Dutch historians that contributes new perspectives to public debate, published an interview with Desmet at the end of September. An interview with our archivist also appeared in the latest issue of the French-language international journal Inprecor.

Curious about Gertjan Desmet's investigative journey? Please read his article in the Journal of Belgian History