Max Kohnstamm (22 May 1914 – 20 October 2010) was a Dutch historian and diplomat.

Early life

Max Kohnstamm was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the son of Philip Kohnstamm, a physicist, philosopher and pedagogue of Jewish-German origin. His father was married to one of the daughters of

Jean Baptiste August Kessler Jean Baptiste August Kessler (15 December 1853 – 14 December 1900) was a Dutch entrepreneur and oil explorer who was largely responsible for the growth and development of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., now part of present-day Shell. Early life ...

, who helped create the company now known as

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

; one of his uncles was

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler Geldolph Adriaan "Dolf" Kessler (2 April 1884 – 21 August 1945) was a Dutch footballer and industrialist. Kessler – along with brother Boeli and cousins Tonny and Dé – played club football for amateur side HVV Den Haag. Kessler also won ...

, who helped create the Dutch steel industry. During World War II, Kohnstamm and Kessler were both held hostage by the Germans along with other prominent Dutchmen at camp Beekvliet in

Sint-Michielsgestel Sint-Michielsgestel () is a village in the municipality of Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands. Geography The 120 km long river Dommel flows north from a well near Peer in Belgium. Just north of 's-Hertogenbosch it is joined by the Aa and ...

; they became quite close there despite the difference in age. He was one of the founding fathers of the European Union and played a major part in the 1950s in the development European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and then of the European Economic Communities.

Education

Kohnstamm was educated at

Amsterdam University The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, where he studied Modern History, before taking up a fellowship at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

During 1938 and 1939 he travelled through the United States as part of his studies. His correspondence with his father during this period discussed his impressions of the United States and his concerns with the looming war.

Career

Kohnstamm was private secretary to

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...

from 1945 to 1948, then served with the Netherlands Foreign Office from 1948 to 1952. During this time he was head of its German Bureau and Director of European Affairs. He was Vice President of the Netherlands'

Schuman Plan The Schuman Declaration, or Schuman Plan, was a proposal to place French and West German production of coal and steel under a single authority that later became the European Coal and Steel Community, made by the French foreign minister, Robert ...

delegation in 1950, serving as Secretary to the

High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community The High Authority was the executive branch of the former European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was created in 1951 and disbanded in 1967 when it was merged into the European Commission. History The High Authority was at the core of th ...

from 1952 to 1956. He was Vice President of the

Action Committee for the United States of Europe The Action Committee for the United States of Europe (french: Comité d'action pour les États-Unis d'Europe), colloquially referred to as the Monnet Committee, was a collective initiative spearheaded by Jean Monnet from 1955 to 1975 that aimed a ...

from 1956. He was President of the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute and an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established by the member states to contribu ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. He was Chairman of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

in Europe.

Accomplishments

Kohnstamm was a member of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...

global think-tank, being one of the six member "inner group" at the time its influential work the ''Limits to Growth'' was published. He was a former member of the Steering Committee of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defin ...

. He was the Founding European Chairman of the

. In 2004, Kohnstamm was awarded the 'Freedom from Fear'

Four Freedoms Award The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to "those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which United States, US President of the United States, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaime ...

by the Roosevelt Stichting.

Jacob Kohnstamm Jacob Kohnstamm (born 14 November 1949) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who was State Secretary for the Interior from 1994 to 1998. He is a member of the Democrats 66 (D66), which he chaired from 1982 to 1986. Biography Studies and ...

is his son.

Death

He died in Amsterdam, aged 96.

References

Sources

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