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Michel de Salzmann

Swiss-French psychiatrist and longtime director of the Gurdjieff Foundation (1923-2001)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 19, 2025
Entity authorityQ6836628 ↗
Source-derived summary

Michel de Salzmann (31 December 1923 in Paris – 4 August 2001 in Paris), son of Jeanne de Salzmann, was a psychiatrist, and the president of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1990 until his death.

His friends and pupils salute him as one of the most important spiritual figures of the 20th century.

His writings in English and in French reveal him as a creative thinker. Michel de Salzmann was a faithful follower of Gurdjieff, as seen in his contribution in The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987). A witness on his own teaching was given by the poet Fran Shaw.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Michel de Salzmann” as swiss-French psychiatrist and longtime director of the Gurdjieff Foundation (1923-2001). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1923, 2001, 1990, 1987—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1923-12-31. The account is most persuasive where Michel, Salzmann and Swiss-French can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as swiss-French psychiatrist and longtime director of the Gurdjieff Foundation (1923-2001). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6836628. VIAF identifies the subject as 78865713. The Library of Congress control number is n2009011512. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2001, 1990 and 1987.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Michel de Salzmann”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Michel de Salzmann primary sources, Michel de Salzmann archive and Michel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Michel de Salzmann”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Michel de Salzmann” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.