| Léon Bollack | |
| Birth Date: | 1859 |
| Occupation: | Trader |
| Known For: | Inventor of Bolak |
Léon Bollack (1859 – 1925) was a French trader who invented Bolak, a constructed language that also went by the name "the Blue Language", in 1899.[1] [2]
His parents were Hermann Bollack and Rachel Léontine Léon (daughter of Moise Léon, founder of the synagogue Buffault in Paris, and Henriette Vissier). The father was from Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, where the family name had been present "for centuries".[1] The mother was from Paris.
Together with his wife Amelie Picard (daughter of Alphonse Mayer Picard and Sara Levy), he had three children: Léontine Rachel Alice (~1891-1981), Lucien Armand Bollack (1892 – 1968), who became an engineer, and a second daughter, Fanny Louise Bollack (1898 – 1958).[1]
He died on September 23, 1925. His daughter, Léontine, changed her name to Alice and married Roger-Angel Olchanski. Together they had two sons, Jean and Daniel, although it was reported that the second son was born as a result of an affair with Alex Virot, a sports journalist..
His son, Lucien Armand Bollack went and founded the Bollack Netter & Co car company.
Léon Bollack, his wife Amélie and his daughter Fanny are buried in the Montmartre cemetery in Paris (3rd division).
After a few years promoting Bolak, he abandoned the struggle in 1907 in favour of the movement backing Ido (a reformed version of the Esperanto language).[1] [2] It is possible that the blue color of the Ido flag was his proposal. He uttered the phrase: "It seems to me that both the Esperanto and Volapük poets are worthy only to be the objects of ridicule."
Bollack inspired H.G. Wells, who mentioned him in his book A Modern Utopia.