Max Kohnstamm

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Max Kohnstamm (2009)

Max Kohnstamm (born May 22, 1914 in Amsterdam ; † October 20, 2010 there ) was a Dutch historian and diplomat .

life and career

Max Kohnstamm was the son of the German-Jewish physicist, philosopher and educator Philip Kohnstamm (1875–1951). He studied contemporary history at the University of Amsterdam before visiting the United States from 1938 to 1939 as a scholarship holder at the American University in Washington, DC , where he conducted research on the economic and labor market reforms of the New Deal .

Active in the student resistance since 1940 , he was held from 1942 to 1944 in the Amersfoort transit camp set up by the German occupation forces in the Netherlands , the Haaren police and remand prison and the Sint-Michielsgestel camp.

After the war, he served the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina as private secretary from 1945 to 1948 and worked in the Dutch Foreign Ministry from 1948 to 1952. There he was involved in the administration of the Marshall Plan and the Dutch policy towards Germany, most recently as head of the office for German affairs. Later in his diplomatic career and his commitment to a United Europe, he completed from 1952 to 1957 as Secretary of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and as Secretary General and later Vice-President of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe . He was the first president of the European University Institute in Florence from 1976 to 1981.

His eldest son Jacob Kohnstamm (* 1949) was also involved in Dutch politics after studying law and, among other things, served as chairman of the Democrats 66 party from 1982 to 1986 and as state secretary for internal affairs from 1994 to 1998 . From 2004 he headed the Dutch data protection authority and since 2010 has been chairman of the Article 29 group of data protection officers of the EU member states.

Fonts (selection)

  • The European Tide In: Daedalus 93, No. 1, 1964, ISSN  0011-5266 , pp. 83-108.
  • published together with Wolfgang Hager: Civil Power Europe - Superpower or Partner? Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1973.
  • Jean Monnet, the power of ingenuity. Office for Official. Publications d. Europ. Communities, Luxembourg 1981.

literature

  • Kohnstamm, Dolph: Still no war: a correspondence between two Dutchmen - son Max and father, Philip Kohnstamm, 1938-1939. Athena, London 2003, ISBN 1-84401-055-4 .
  • Winand, Pascaline: Max Kohnstamm et le Plan Schuman: 'On change les assiettes' ou 'Plus est en vous'. In: Andreas Wilkens (Ed.): In Le Plan Schuman dans l'Historie. Intérêts nationaux et projet européen. Bruylant, Brussels 2004, ISBN 978-2-8027-1862-8 , pp. 361-372.
  • Harryvan, Anjo G./van der Harst, Jan: Max Kohnstamm. Leven en werk van een European. Het Spektrum, Utrecht 2008, ISBN 978-90-274-4123-2 . (English-language edition: Nomos, Baden-Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8329-5810-7 )

Web links

Commons : Max Kohnstamm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mak, Geert: Netherlands. CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 194.
  2. ↑ Schrevel, Margreet 2010: Max Kohnstamm, Champion of Europe , International Institute of Social History, 2010.
  3. ↑ uni-muenster: Max Kohnstamm passed away
  4. ↑ Short biography of Max Kohnstamm , CVCE
personal data
SURNAME Kohnstamm, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch historian and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 2010
Place of death Amsterdam